-^^-''i-^v-^Ut/Uii*^ 



I 




JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

AT THE AGE OP 16. 

Copied by permission of J. F. Ryder, Cleveland, O. 



FROM 



CANAL BOY TO PRESIDENT, 



OR THE 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD 



OF 



JAMES A. GARFIELD 



BY 

HORATIO ALGER, JR., 

Author of Ragged Dick ; Luck aj^d Pluck ; Tattered Tom, Etc. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



NEW YORK: 
JOHN R. ANDERSON & COMPANY, 

No. 17 Murray Street. 

1881. 



'X 




COrTRIGHT, 1881, BY 
JOHN R. ANDERSON & CO. 

JOl S 1968 



Edwakd O. Jknkins, 

Pkintkk and Stekeotyi'hr, 

20 Mortk William Street^ New Vark. 



TO 
HARRY AND JAMES GARFIELD 

WHOSE PRIVATE SORROW 
IS THE PUBLIC GRIEF, 
THIS MEMORIAL OF THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS FATHER 

Is instrtSclr 

WITH THE WARMEST SYMPATHY. 



PKEFACE 



If I am asked why I add one to the numerous 
Lives of our dead President, I answer, in the words 
of Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, because " our annals 
afford no such incentive to youth as does his life, 
and it will become one of the Eepublic's household 
stories." 

I have conceived, therefore, that a biography, 
written with a view to interest young people in 
the facts of his great career, would be a praise- 
worthy undertaking. The biography of General 
Garfield, however imperfectly executed, can not 
but be profitable to the reader. In this story, 
which I have made as attractive as I am able, I 
make no claim to originality. I have made free 
use of such materials as came within my reach, in- 
cluding incidents and reminiscences made public 

dming the last summer, and I trust I have suc- 

(5) 



g PBEFAOE. 

ceeded, in a measure, in conveying a correct idea 
of a character whose nobility we have only 
learned to appreciate since death has snatched our 
leader from us. 

I take pleasure in acknowledging my obligations 
to two Lives of Gai-field, one by Edmund Kirke, 
the other by Major J. M. Bundy. Such of my 
readers as desire a more extended account of the 
later life of Gen. Garfield, I refer to these well- 
written and instructive works. 

HoEATio Algee, Je. 

New York, Oct 8, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



XIX.— Garfield as a College President, 

(7) 



52 
61 



PAGE 

CHAPTER Q 

I. —The First Pair of Shoes, - - » 

II.— GROwma in Wisdom and Stature, 17 

III.— In Quest of Fortune, - - 26 

XV.— On the Tow-path, - - - 35 

v.— An Important Conversation, - 44 
VI.— James Leaves the Canal, - 
VII.— The Choice of a Vocation, 

VIII.— Geauga Seminary, - - - 70 

IX.— Ways and Means, - - - 79 

X.— A Cousin's Reminiscences, - - 87 
XI.— Ledge Hill School, - 
XII.— Who shall be Master ? 

XIIL— James Leaves Geauga Seminary, - 114 

XIV.— At Hiram Institute,- - - 123 

XV.— Three Busy Years, - - - 132 

XVI.— Entering Williams College, - 14 1 

XVII.— Life in College, - - - 152 
XVIII.— The Canal-boy becomes a College 

President, - - - - 161 



105 



170 



3 CONTENTS. 

taiAPTER PAQB 

XX. — Garfield becomes a State Senator, 179 

XXI. — A Difficult Duty, - - - 187 

XXII. — ^JoHN Jordan's Dangerous Journey, 196 

XXIII.— Garfield's Bold Strategy, - 205 

XXIV. — The Battle of Middle Creek, - 214 

XXV.— The Perilous Trip up the Bia 

Sandy, - - - - 22-i 
XXVI.— The Canal-boy becomes a Con- 
gressman, - - - - 231 

XXVII. — Garfield's Course in Congress, - 243 
XXVIII.— The Man for the Hour, - - 253 
XXIX.— Garfield as a Lawyer, - - 2(32 
XXX.— The Scholar in Politics, - - 271 
XXXI.— The Tributes of Friends, - - 280 
XXXII. — From Canal-boy to President, - 290 
XXXIII.— The New Administration, - - 298 
XXXIV.— The Tragic End, - - - 307 
XXXV.— Mr. Depew's Estimate of Gar- 
field, . - _ . 318 

XXXVI.— The Lessons of his Life, - - 327 



THE 

BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD 

OF 

JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FIRST PAIR OF SHOES. 

From a small and rudely-built log-cabin a 
sturdy boy of four years issued, and looked ear- 
nestly across the clearing to the pathway that led 
throufyli the surroundinoj forest. His bare feet 
pressed the soft grass, which spread like a carpet 
before the door. 

"What are you looking for, Jimmy?" asked 
his mother from within the humble dwelling. 

" I'm looking for Thomas," said Jimmy. 

" It's hardly time for him yet. He won't be 
through work till after sunset." 

" Then I wish the sun would set quick," said 
Jimmy. 

(9) 



10 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" That is something we can not hasten, m^^ son. 
God makes the sun to rise and to set in its due 
season." 

This idea was probably too advanced for Jim- 
my's comprehension, for he was but four years of 
age, and the youngest of a family of four chil- 
dren. His father had died two years before, 
leaving a young widow, and four children, the 
eldest but nine, in sore straits. A long and 
severe winter lay before the little family, and 
they had but little corn garnered to carry theui 
through till the next harvest. But the young 
widow was a brave woman and a devoted mother. 

" God will provide for us," she said, but some- 
times it seemed a mystery how that provision was 
to come. More than once, when the corn was 
low in the bin, she went to bed without her own 
supper, that her four children, who were blessed 
with hearty appetites, might be satisfied. But 
when twelve months had gone by, and the new 
harvest came in, the fields which she and her old- 
est boy had planted yielded enough to place them 
beyond the fear of want. God did help them, 
but it was because they helped themselves. 

But beyond the barest necessaries the little 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. -[^ 

family neither expected nor obtained much. 
Clothing cost money, and there was very little 
money in the log -cabin, or indeed in the whole 
settlement, if settlement it can be called. There 
was no house within a mile, and the village a 
mile and a half away contained only a school- 
house, a grist-mill, and a little log store and dwell- 
ing. 

Two weeks before my story opens, a farmer 
living not far away called at the log -cabin. 
Thomas, the oldest boy, was at work in a field 
near the house. 

" Do you want to see mother ? " he asked. 

" N^o, I want to see you." 

** AU right, sir ! Here I am," said Thomas, 
smiling pleasantly. 

" How old are you ? " asked the farmer. 

" Eleven years old, sir." 

The farmer surveyed approvingly the sturdy 
frame, broad shoulders, and muscular arms of the 
boy, and said, after a pause, " You look pretty 
strong of your age." 

" Oh, yes, sir," answered Thomas, complacently 
" I am strong." 

" And you are used to farm work ? " 



■^2 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

'' Yes, sir. I do about all the outdoor work 
at home, being the only boy. Of course, there 
is Jimmy, but he is only four, and that's too 
young to work on the farm." 

" What does he want ? " thought Thomas. 

He soon learned. 

" I need help on my farm, and I guess you will 
suit me," said Mr. Conrad, though that was not 
his name. In fact, I don't know his name, but 
that will do as well as any other. 

*' I don't know whether mother can spare me, 
but I can ask her," said Thomas. " What are you 
willing to pay 'i " 

" I'll give you twelve dollars a month, but 
you'll have to make long days." 

Twelve dollars a month ! Tom's eyes sparkled 
with joy, for to him it seemed an immense sum — • 
and it would go very far in the little family. 

" I am quite sure mother will let me go," he 
said. " I'll go in and ask her." 

" Do so, sonny, and I'll wait for you here." 

Thomas swung open the plank door, and entered 
the cabin. 

It Avas about twenty feet one way by thirty 
the other. It had three small windows, a deal 



JAMES A. OABFIELD. J 3 

floor, and the sjDaces between the logs of which it 
was built were filled in with claj. It was cer- 
tainly an humble dwelling, and the chances are 
that not one of my young readers is so poor as 
not to afford a better. Yet, it w^as not imcom- 
fortable. It afforded fair protection from the 
heat of summer, and the cold of winter, and was 
after all far more desirable as a home than the 
crowded tenements of our larger cities, for those 
who occupied it had but to open the door and 
windows to breathe the pure air of heaven, uncon- 
taminated by foul odors or the taint of miasma. 

" Mother," said Thomas, "Mr. Conrad wants 
to hire me to work on his farm, and he is willing 
to pay me twelve dollars a month. May I go ? " 

" Ask Mr. Conrad to come in, Thomas." 

The farmer entered, and repeated his request. 

Mrs. Garfield, for this was the widow's name, 
was but little over thirty. She had a strong, 
thoughtful face, and a firm mouth, that spoke a 
decided character. She was just the woman to 
grapple with adversity, and turoing her unwea- 
ried hands to any work, to rear up her children in 
the fear of the Lord, and provide for their neces- 
sities as well as circumstances would admit. 



14 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

She didn't like to spare Thomas, for much of 
his work would be thrown upon her, but there 
was great lack of ready money and the twelve 
dollars were a powerful temptation. 

"I need Thomas at home," she said slowly, 
" but I need the money more. He may go, if 
he likes." 

*' I will go," said Thomas promptly. 

"How often can you let him come home?'' 
was the next question. 

" Every fortnight, on Saturday night. He shall 
bring his wages then." 

This was satisfactory, and Thomas, not stop- 
ping to change his clothes, for he had but one 
suit, went off with his employer. 

His absence naturally increased his mother's 
work, and was felt as a sore loss by Jimmy, who was 
in the habit of following him about, and watching 
him when he was at work. Sometimes his brother 
gave the little fellow a trifle to do, and Jimmy 
was always pleased to help, for he was fond of 
work, and when he grew older and stronger he 
was himself a sturdy and indefatigable worker in 
ways not dreamed of tlieii. 

Tlie first fortiii^^ht was up, and Thomas was 



JAMES A. QABFIELD. 15 

expected home. No one was more anxious to 
see liim than his little brother, and that was why 
Jimmy had come out from his humble home, and 
was looking so earnestly across the clearing. 

At last he saw him, and ran as fast as short legs 
could caiTy him to meet his brother. 

" Oh, Tommy, how I've missed you I " he said. 

" Have you, Jimmy ? " asked Thomas, passing 
his arm around his little brother's neck. " I have 
missed you too, and all the family. Are all well % " 

« Oh, yes." 

" That is good." 

As they neared the cabin Mrs. Garfield came 
out, and welcomed her oldest boy home. 

" We are all glad to see you, Thomas," she said. 
« How have you got along ? " 

" Yery well, mother." 

« Was the work hard % " 

" The hours were pretty long. I had to work 
fourteen hom-s a day." 

<< That is too long for a boy of your age to 
work," said his mother anxiously. 

« Oh, it hasn't hurt me, mother," said Thomas, 
laughing. " Besides, you must remember I have 
been well paid. What do you say to that \ " 



jg JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

He drew from his pocket twelve silver half-dol- 
lars, and laid them on the table, a glittering heap. 

"Is it all yours. Tommy?" asked his little 
brother wonderingly. 

" ]^o, it belongs to mother. I give it to her." 

" Thank you, Thomas," said Mrs. Garli-eld, " but 
at least you ought to be consulted about how it 
shall be spent. Is there anything you need for 
yourself ? " 

*'' Oh, never mind me ! I want Jimmy to have 
a pair of shoes." 

Jimmy looked with interest at his little bare 
feet, and thought he would like some shoes. In 
fact they would be his first, for thus far in life he 
had been a barefooted boy. 

" Jimmy shall have his shoes," said Mrs. Gar- 
field ; " when you see the shoemaker ask him to 
come here as soon as he can make it convenient.' 

So, a few days later the shoemaker, who may 
possibly have had no shop of his owm, called at 
the log-cabin, measured Jimmy for a pair of 
shoes, and made them on the spot, boarding out 
a part of his pay. 

The first pair of shoes made aii important 
epoch in Jimmy Garfield's life, for it was decided 
that he could now go to school. 



CHAPTER 11. 

GROWING IN WISDOM AND STATURE. 

The school was in the village a mile and a half 
away. It was a long walk for a little boy of four, 
but sometimes his sister Mehetabel, now thirteen 
years old, carried him on her back. When in 
winter the snow lay deep on the ground Jimmy's 
books were brought home, and he recited his les- 
sons to his mother. 

This may be a good time to say something of the 
family whose name in after years was to become a 
household word throughout the republic. They had 
been long in the country. They were literally 
one of the first families, for in 1636, only sixteen 
years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock, 
and the same year that Harvard College was 
founded, Edward Garfield, who had come from 
the edge of "Wales, settled in Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, less than four miles from the infant col- 
lege, and there for more than a century was the 
2 (17) 



2g BOYUOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

family home, as several moss-grown headstones in 
the ancient graveyard still testify. 

They did their part in the Eevoliitionary war, 
and it was not till the war was over that Solomon 
Garlield, the great grandfather of the future Pres- 
ident, removed to the town of Worcester, Otsego 
Comity, ^. Y. Here lived the Garfields for 
two generations. Then Abram Garlield, the 
father of James, moved to Northeastern Ohio, and 
bought a tract of eighty acres, on which stood the 
log-cabin, built by himself, in which our story 
opens. His wife belonged to a distinguished fam- 
ily of New England — the Ballous — and possessed 
the strong traits of her kindred. 

But the little farm of eighty acres was smaller 
novr. Abram Gai-field died in debt, and his wife 
sold off fifty acres to pay his creditors, leaving 
thirty, which with her own industry and that of 
her oldest son served to maintain her little family. 

The school-house was so far away that Mrs. Gar- 
field, who appreciated the importance of educa- 
tion for her children, offered her neighbors a site 
for a new school-house on her own land, and one 
was built. Here winter after winter came teach- 
ers, some of limited qualifications, to instruct the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, JQ 

children of tlie neighborhood, and here Jimmy 
enlarged his stock of book-learning by slow de- 
grees. 

The years passed, and still they lived in tlie 
humble log-cabin, till at the age of twenty-one 
Thomas came home from Michigan, where he had 
been engaged in clearing land for a farmer, bring- 
ing seventy-five dollars in gold. 

"E'ow, mother," he said, ''you shall have a 
framed house." 

Seventy-five dollars would not pay for a framed 
house, but he cut timber himself, got out the 
boards, and added his own labor, and that of Jim- 
my, now fourteen years old, and so the house was 
built, and the log-cabin became a thing of the 
past. But it had been their home for a long time, 
and doubtless many happy days had been spent 
beneath its humble roof. 

While the house was being built, Jimmy learned 
one thing — that he was handy with tools, and was 
well fitted to become a carpenter. When the 
joiner told him that he was born to be a carpenter, 
he thought with joy that this unexpected talent 
would enable him to help his mother, and earn 
something toward the family expenses. So, for 



20 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

the next two years lie worked at this new busi- 
ness when opportunity offered, and if my reader 
should go to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, he could proba- 
bly find upon inquiry several barns in the vicinity 
which Jimmy helped to build. 

He still went to school, however, and obtained 
such knowledge of the mysteries of grammar, 
arithmetic, and geography as could be obtained 
in the common schools of that day. 

But Jimmy Garfield was not born to be a car- 
penter, and I believe never got so far along as to 
assist in building a house. 

He was employed to build a wood-shed for a 
black-salter, ten miles away from his mother's 
house, and when the job was finished his employer 
fell into conversation with him, and being a man 
of limited acquirements himself, was impressed 
by the boy's surprising stock of knowledge. 

"You kin read, you kin write, and you are 
death on figgers," he said to him one day. "If 
you'll stay with me, keep my 'counts, and 'tend to 
the saltery, I'll find you, and give you fourteen 
dollars a month." 

Jimmy was dazzled by this brilliant offer. He 
felt that to accept it would be to enter upon the 



JAMES A. OAIi FIELD. 



21 



high-road to riches, and he resolved to do so if 
his mother would consent. Ten miles he trudged 
through the woods to ask his mother's consent, 
which with some difficulty he obtained, for she 
did not know to what influences he might be sub- 
jected, and so he got started in a new business. 

Whether he would have fulfilled his employer's 
prediction, and some day been at the head of a 
saltery of his own, we can not tell ; but in time 
he became dissatisfied with his situation, and 
returning home, waited for Providence to indi- 
cate some new path on which to enter. 

One thing, however, was certain : he would not 
be content to remain long without employment. 
He had an active temperament, and would have 
been happiest when busy, even if he had not 
known that his mother needed the fruits of his 
labor. 

He had one source of enjoyment while em- 
ployed by the black-salter, which he fully appre- 
ciated. Strange to say, his employer had a libra- 
yy^, that is, he had a small collection of books, 
gathered by his daughter, prominent among which 
were Marryatt's novels, and '' Sinbad the Sailor." 
They opened a new world to his young account- 



22 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

ant, and gave Mm an intense desire to see the 
world, and especially to cross the great sea, even 
in the capacity of a sailor. At home there was 
no library, not from the lack of literary taste, but 
because there was no money to spend for any- 
thing but necessaries. 

He had not been long at home when a neigh- 
bor, entering one day, said, " James, do you want 
a job?" 

" Yes," answered James, eagerly. 

" There^s a farmer in Kewburg wants some 
wood chopped." 

*' I can do it," said James, quietly. 

"Then you'd better go and see him." 

JN^ewburg is within the present limits of Cleve- 
land, and thither James betook himself the next 
day. 

He was a stout boy, with the broad shoulders 
and sturdy frame of his former ancestors, and he 
was sure he could give satisfaction. 

The farmer, dressed in homespun, looked up 
as the boy approached. 

" Are you Mr. ? " asked James. 

" Yes." 

" I heard that you wanted some wood chopped." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 23 

" Yes, but I am not sure if you can do it," an- 
swered the farmer, surveying tlie boy critically. 

" I can do it," said James, confidently. 

" Yery well, you can try. I'll give you seven 
dollars for the job." 

The price was probably satisfactory, for James 
engaged to do the w^ork. There proved to be 
twenty-five cords, and no one, I think, will con- 
sider that he was overpaid for his labor. 

He was fortunate, at least, in the scene of his 
labor, for it was on the shore of Lake Erie, and 
as he lifted his eyes from his work they rested 
on the broad bosom of the beautiful lake, almost 
broad enough as it appeared to be the ocean itself, 
which he had a strange desire to traverse in search 
of the unknown lands of which he had read or 
dreamed. 

I suppose there are few boys w^ho have not at 
some time fancied that they should like " a life 
on the ocean w^ave, and a home on the rolling 
deep." I have in mind a friend, now a physician, 
who at the age of fifteen left a luxurious home, 
with the reluctant permission of his parents, for 
a voyage before the mast to Liverpool, beguiled 
by one of the fascinating narratives of Herman 



24 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Melville. But the romance very soon Avore off, 
and by the time the boy reached Halifax, where 
the ship put in, he was so seasick, and so sick of 
the sea, that he begged to be left on shore to re- 
turn home as he might. The captain had re- 
ceived secret instructions from the parents to ac- 
cede to such a wish, and the boy was landed, and 
in due time returned home as a passenger. So it 
is said that George Washington had an early pas- 
sion for the sea, and would have become a sailor 
but for the pain he knew it would give his mother. 

James kept his longings to himself for the 
present, and returned home with the seven dol- 
lars he had so hardly earned. 

There was more work for him to do. A Mr. 
Treat wanted help during the haying and harvest- 
ing season, and offered employment to the boy, 
who was already strong enough to do almost as 
much as a man ; for James already had a good 
reputation as a faithful worker. " Whatever his 
hands found to do, he did it with his might," and 
he was by no means fastidious as to the kind of 
work, provided it was honest and honorable. 

When the harvest work was over James made 
known his passion for the sea. 



JAMES A, GARFIELD. 25 

Going to his mother, he said : " Mother, I want 
above all things to go to sea.'' 

" Go to sea ! " replied his mother in dismay. 
^' What has put such an idea into your head ?" 

" It has been in my head for a long time," an^ 
swered the boy quietly. " 1 have thought of noth- 
ing else for the last year." 



CHAPTER III. 

IN QUEST OF FOETFNE. 

James had so persuaded himself that the sea 
was his vocation, and was so convinced of the 
pleasures and advantages it would bring, that it 
had not occurred to him that his mother would 
object. 

" What made you think of the sea, James ? " 
his mother asked with a troubled face. 

" It was the books I read last year, at the black- 
salter's. Oh, mother, did you ever read Marry- 
att's novels, and ' Sinbad the Sailor ' ? " 

" I have read ^ Sinbad the Sailor,' but you know 
that is a fairy story, my son." 

" It may be, but Marryatt's stories are not. It 
must be splendid to travel across the mighty 
ocean, and see foreign countries." 

"A sailor doesn't have the chance to see much. 

You have no idea of the hardships of liis life." 

" I am used to hardships, and I am not afraid 
(36) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



27 



of hard work. But jou seem disappointed, 
mother. What have yon thought of for me ? " 

" I have hoped, James, that you might become 
a learned man, perhaps a college professor. Sui-ely 
that would be better than to be a common sailor." 

" But I wouldn't stay a common sailor, mother. 
I would be a captain some time." 

1 suppose there is no doubt that, had James 
followed the sea, he would have risen to the com- 
mand of a ship, but the idea did not seem to 
dazzle his mother. 

'' If you go to sea 1 shall lose you," said his 
mother. "A sailor can spend very little time 
with his family. Tliink carefully, my son. I 
believe your present fancy will be short-lived, 
and you will some day wonder that you ever en- 
tertained it." 

Such, however, was not the boy's idea at the 
time. His mother might have reason on hei- side, 
but it takes more than reason to dissipate a boy's 
passion for the sea. 

"You speak of my becoming a scholar, 
mother," he said, " but there doesn't seem much 
chance of it. I see nothing but work as a car- 
penter, or on the farm." 



28 BOYHOOD AND MANUOOD OF 

" You don't know what God may have in store 
for you, my son. As you say, there seems no 
way open at present for you to become a scholar ; 
but if you entertain the desire the way will be 
open. Success comes to him who is in earnest." 

" What, then, do you want me to do, mother ? 
Do you wish me to stay at home \ " 

" No, for there seems little for you to do here. 
Go to Cleyeland, if you like, and seek some 
respectable employment. If, after a time, you 
find your longing for the sea unconquered, it will 
be time to look out for a berth on board ship." 

James, in spite of his earnest longing to go to 
sea, was a reasonable boy, and he did not object 
to his mother's plan. The next morning he tied 
his slender stock of clothing in a small bundle, 
bade a tearful good-bye to his mother, whose 
loving glances followed him far along his road, 
and with hope and enthusiasm trudged over a 
hard road to Cleveland, that beautiful city, 
whither, nearly forty years afterward, he was to 
be carried in funereal state, amid the tears of 
countless thousands. In that city where his active 
life began, it was to finish. 

A long walk was before him, for Cleveland 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 29 

was seventeen miles away. He stopped to rest 
at intervals, and it was not until the sun had set 
and darkness enveloped the town that he entered 
it with weary feet. 

He betook himself to a cheap boarding-place 
whither he had been directed, and soon retired to 
bed. His fatigue brought him a good night's 
sleep, and he woke refreshed and cheered to look 
about him and decide upon his future plans. 

Cleveland does not compare in size with New 
York, Philadelphia, or Boston, and thirty-iive 
years ago it was much smaller than now. But 
compai-ed with James' native place, and the vil- 
lages near him, it was an impressive place. There 
were large business blocks, and handsome churches, 
and paved streets, and a general city-like appear- 
ance which interested James greatly. On the whole, 
even if he had to give up going to sea, he thought 
he might enjoy himself in such a lively place as 
this. But of course he must iind employment. 

So he went into a store and inquired if they 
wanted a boy. 

"What can you do?" asked the storekeeper, 
looking at the boy with his countrified air and 
rustic suit. 



30 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

*'I can read, write, and cipher," answered 
James. 

" Indeed ! " said tlie storekeeper smiling. " All 
our boys can do that. Is that all jou can do 'i ^ 

James might have answered that he could chop 
wood, work at carpentering, plant and harvest, 
but he knew very well that these accomplishments 
would be but little service to him here. Indeed, 
he was rather puzzled to know what he could do 
that would earn him a livino; in a smart town like 
Cleveland. However, he didn't much expect to 
find his first application successful, so he entered 
another store and preferred his request. 

" You won't suit us," was the brusque reply. 
" You come from the country, don't you ? " 

"Yes, sir." 

"You look like it. Well, I will give you a 
piece of advice." 

"What is that, sir?" 

" Go back there. You are better suited to the 
country than the city. I daresay you would 
make a very good hand on a farm. We need a 
different sort of boys here." 

This was discouraging. James didn't know 
why he would not do for a city store or office. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 31 

He was strong enough, and he thought he knew 
enough, for he had not at present much idea of 
what was taught at seminaries of a higher grade 
than the district schools he had been accustomed 
to attend. 

" Well," he said to himself, " I've done what 
mother asked me to do. I've tried to get a place 
here, and there doesn't seem to be a place for 
me. After all, I don't know but I'd better go to 
sea." 

Cleveland was not of course a sea-port, but it 
had considerable lake trade, and had a line of 
piers. 

James found his way to the wharves, and his 
eye lighted up as he saw the sloops and schooners 
which were engaged in inland trade. He had 
never seen a real ship, or those schooners and 
sloops would have had less attraction for him. 

In particular his attention was drawn to one 
schooner, not over-clean or attractive, but with a 
sea-faring look, as if it had been storm-tossed and 
buffeted. Half a dozen sailors were on board, but 
they were grimed and dirty, and looked like ha- 
bitual drinkers — probably James would not have 
fancied becoming like one of these, but he gave 



32 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

little thought to their appearance. He only 
thought how delightful it would be to have such 
a floating home. 

" Is the captain on board ? " the boy ventured 
to ask. 

" He's down below," growled the sailor whom 
he addressed. 

" Will he soon come up ? " 

He was answered in the affirmative. 

So James lingered until the man he inquired 
for came up. 

He was a brutal-looking man, as common in 
appearance as any of the sailors whom he com- 
manded, and the boy was amazed at his bearing. 
Surely that man was not his ideal of a ship-cap- 
tain. He thought of him as a sort of prince, but 
there was nothing princely about the miserable, 
bloated wretch before him. 

Still he preferred his application. 

" Do you want a new hand ? " asked James. 

His answer was a volley of oaths and curses 
that made James turn pale, for he had never' ut- 
tered an oath in his Hfe, and had never listened 
to anything so disgusting as the tu-ade to which 
he was forced to listen. 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 33 

He sensibly concluded that nothing was to be 
gained by continning the conversation with such 
a man. He left the schooner's deck Avith a feel- 
ing of discomfiture. He had never suspected that 
sailors talked or acted like the men he saw. 

Still he clung to the idea that all sailors were 
not Hke this captain. Perliaps again the rebuH 
be received was in consequence of his rustic ap- 
pearance. The captain might be prejudiced 
against him, just as the shop-keepers had been, 
though the latter certainly had not expressed 
themselves in such rude and profane language. 
He might not be fit for a sailor yet, but he could 
prepare himself. 

He bethought himself of a cousin of his, by 
name Amos Letcher, who had not indeed arrived 
at the exalted position of captain of a schooner, 
but was content with the humbler position of 
captain of a canal-boat on the Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania Canal. 

This seemed to James a lucky thought. 

" I will go to Amos Letcher," he said to him- 
self. *' Perhaps he can find me a situation on a 
canal-boat, and that will be the next thing to being 
on board a ship." 
3 



34 JAMES A. OABFIELD. 

This thought pnt fresh courage into the boy, 
and he straightway inquired for the Evening 
Star J which was the name of the boat commanded 
by his cousin. 



CHAPTEE lY. 

ON THE TOW-PATH. 

Captain Letcher regarded his young cousin in 
surprise. 

" Well, Jimmy, what brings you to Cleveland ? " 
he asked. 

" I came here to ship on the lake," the boy an- 
swered. " 1 tried first to get a place in a store, as 
I promised mother, but I found no opening. I 
would rather be a sailor." 

*' I am afraid your choice is not a good one ; a 
good place on land is much better than going to 
sea. Have you tried to get a berth ? " 

" Yes, I applied to the captain of a schooner, 
but he swore at me and called me a land-lubber." 

" So you are," returned his cousin smiling. 
'' Well, what are your plans now ? " 

" Can't you give me a place ? " 

"What, on the canal?" 

" Yes, cousin." 

(35) 



gg BOY no OB AND MANHOOD OF 

*' I suppose you think that would be the next 
thing to going to sea ? " 

" It might prepare me for it." 

'•Well,'' said Captain Letcher, good-naturedly, 
" I will see what I can do for you. Can you 
drive a pair of horses ? " 

" Oh, yes." 

" Then I will engage you. The pay is not very 
large, but you will live on the boat." 

" How much do you pay ?" asked James,who was 
naturally interested in the answer to this question. 

" We pay from eight to ten dollars a month, 
according to length of service and fidelity. Of 
course, as a new hand, you can not expect ten 
doUars." 

" I shall be satisfied with eight, cousin." 

'' ]S"ow, as to your duties. You will work six 
hours on and six hours off. That's what we call 
a trick — ^the six hours on, I mean. So you will 
have every other six hours to rest, or do anything 
you like ; that is, after you have attended to the 
horses." 

" Hordes ! " repeated James, puzzled ; for the 
animals attached to the boat at that moment were 
mules. 



JAMES A. (JAR FIELD. 



37 



" Some of our horses are mules," said Captain 
Letcher, smilii^g. '' However, it makes no differ- 
ence. You will have to feed and rub them down, 
and then jou can lie down in jour bunk, or do 
anything else you like." 

" That won't be very hard work," said James, 
cheerfully. 

" Oh, I forgot to say that you can ride or walk, 
as you choose. You can rest yourself by chang- 
ing from one to the other." 

James thought he should like to ride on horse- 
back, as most boys do. It was not, however, so 
good fun as he anticipated. A canal-boat horse 
is by no means a fiery or spirited creature. His 
usual gait is from two to two and a half miles an 
hour, and to a boy of quick, active temperament 
the slowness must be rather exasperating. Yet, 
in the course of a day a boat went a considerable 
distance. It usually made fifty, and sometimes 
sixty miles a day. The rate depended on the 
number of locks it had to pass through. 

Probably most of my young readers understand 
the nature of a lock. As all water seeks a level, 
there would be danger in an uneven country that 
some parts of the canal would be left entirely 



gg BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

dry, and in others the water would overflow. 
For this reason at intervals locks are constructed, 
composed of brief sections of the canal barri- 
caded at each end by gates. When a boat is go- 
ing down, the near gates are thrown open and the 
boat enters the lock, the water rushing in till a 
level is secured ; then the upper gates are closed, 
fastening the boat in the lock. ISText the lower 
gates are opened, the water in the lock seeks the 
lower level of the other section of the canal, and 
the boat moves out of the lock, the water subsid- 
ing gradually beneath it. ]^ext, the lower gates 
are closed, and the boat proceeds on its way. It 
will easily be understood, when the case is re- 
versed, and the boat is going up, how after being 
admitted into the lock it will be lifted np to the 
higher level when the upper gates are thrown 
open. 

If any of my young readers find it difficult to 
understand my explanation, I advise them to read 
Jacob Abbot's excellent book, " Kollo on the 
Erie Canal," where the whole matter is lucidly 
explained. 

Railroads were not at that time as common as 
now, and the canal was of much more importance 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



39 



and value as a means of conveying freight. 
Sometimes passengers traveled that way, when 
they were in not much of a hurry, but there were 
no express canal -boats, and a man who chose to 
travel in that way must have abundant leisure on 
his hands. There is some difference between 
traveling from two to two and a half miles an 
hour, and between thirty and forty, as most of our 
railroad express trains do. 

James did not have to wait long after his en- 
gagement before he was put on duty. With boy- 
ish pride he mounted one of the mules and led 
the other. A line connected the mules with the 
boat, which was drawn slowly and steadily through 
the water. James felt the responsibility of his 
situation. It was like going to sea on a small 
scale, though the sea was but a canal. At all 
events, he felt that he had more important work 
to do than if he were employed as a boy on one 
of tlie lake schooners. 

James was at this time fifteen ; a strong, sturdy 
boy, with a mass of auburn hair, partly covered 
by a loose-fitting hat. He had a bright, intelli- 
gent face, and an earnest look that attracted gen- 
eral attention. Yet, to one who saw the boy 



^Q BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

guiding the patient mule along the tow-path, it 
would have seemed a most improbable prediction, 
that one day the same hand would guide the ship 
of State, a vessel of much more consequence 
than the humble canal-boat. 

There was one comfort, at any rate. Though 
in his rustic garb he was not well enough dressed 
to act as clerk in a Cleveland store, no one com- 
plained that he was not well enough attired for a 
canal-boy. 

It will occur to my young reader that, though 
the work was rather monotonous, there w^as not 
much difficulty or danger connected with it. But 
even the guidance of a canal-boat has its per- 
plexities, and James was not long in his new 
position before he reahzed it. 

It often happened that a canal-hoat going up 
encountered another going down, and vice versa. 
Then care has to be exercised by the respective 
drivers lest their lines get entangled. 

All had been going on smoothly till James saw 
another boat coming. It might have been his 
inexperience, or it might have been the careless- 
ness of the other driver, but at any rate the lines 
got entangled. Meanwhile the boat, under the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^\ 

impetus that had been given it, kept on its way 
until it was even with the horses, and seemed 
likely to tow them along. 

"Whip up your team, Jim, or your line will 
ketch on the bridge ! " called out the steersman. 

The bridge was built over a waste-way which 
occurred just ahead, and it was necessary for 
James to drive over it. 

The caution was heeded, but too late. James 
whipped up his mules, but when he had reached 
the middle of the bridge the rope tightened, and 
before the young driver fairly understood what 
awaited him, he and his team were jerked into the 
canal. Of course he was thrown off the animal 
he was riding, and found himself struggling in 
the water side by side with the astonished mules. 
The situation was a ludicrous one, but it was also 
attended with some danger. Even if he did not 
drown, and the canal was probably deep enough 
for that, he stood in some danger of being kicked 
by the terrified mules. 

The boy, however, preserved his presence of 
mina, and managed, with help, to get out himself 
and to get his team out. 

Then Captain Letcher asked him, jocosely, 
" What were you doing in the canal, Jim % " 



42 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" I was just taking my morning bath," answered 
the boy, in the same vein. 

'' You'll do," said the captain, struck by the 
boy's coolness. 

Six hours passed, and James' "trick" was 
over. He and his mules were both relieved from 
duty. Both were allowed to come on board the 
boat and rest for a like period, while the other 
driver took his place on the tow-path. 

" Well, Jim, how do you like it as far as you've 
got ? " asked the captain. 

" I like it," answered the boy. 

" Shall you be ready to take another bath to- 
morrow morning ? " asked his cousin, slyly. 

" I think one bath a week will be sufficient," 
was the answer. 

Feeling a natural interest in his young cousin, 
Amos Letcher thought he would examine him a 
little, to see how far his education had advanced. 
Respecting his own ability as an examiner he had 
little doubt, for he had filled the proud position 
of teacher in Steuben County, Indiana, for three 
successive winters. 

"■ I suppose you have been to school more or 
less, Jim 'I " he said. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 43 

" Ob, yes," answered the boy. 

'' "What bave you studied ? " 

James enumerated the ordinary school branches. 
They were not many, for bis acquirements were 
not extensive ; but he bad worked well, and was 
pretty well grounded as far as be bad gone. 



CHAPTEE Y. 

AN IMPOETANT CONVERSATION. 

"I've taught school myself," said Captain 
Letcher, complacently. "I taught for threo 
winters in Indiana." 

James, who, even then, had a high opinion of 
learning, regarded the canal-boat captain with 
increased respect. 

"I didn't know that," he answered, duly- 
impressed. 

" Yes, I've had experience as a teacher. Now, 
if you don't mind, I'll ask you a few questions, 
and find out how much you know. We've got 
plenty of time, for it's a long way to Pancake 
Lock." 

'' Don't ask me too hard questions," said the 
boy. " I'll answer the best I know." 

Upon this Captain Letcher, taking a little time 
to think, began to question his young cousin in 

the difioreiit branches he had enumerated. The 

(44) 



JAMES A, GARFIELD. 45 

questions were not very hard, for the good cap- 
tain, though he had taught school in Indiana, was 
not a profound scholar. 

James answered every question promptly and 
accurately, to the increasing surprise of his 
employer. 

The latter paused. 

** Haven't you any more questions ? " asked 
James. 

" JSTo, I don't think of any." 

*^ Then may I ask you some ? " 

" Yes, if you want to," answered the captain, 
rather surprised. 

"Yery well," said James. ** A man went to 
a shoemaker and bought a pair of boots, for which 
he was to pay five dollars. He offered a fifty- 
dollar bill, which the shoemaker sent out and had 
changed. He paid his customer forty-five dollars 
in change, and the latter walked off with the boots. 
An hour later he ascertained that the bill was a 
counterfeit, and he was obliged to pay back fifty 
dollars in good money to the man who had changed 
the bill for him. E'ow, how much did he lose ? " 

" That's easy enough. He lost fifty dollars and 
the boots." 



46 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" I don't think that's quite right," said James, 
smihng. 

^' Of course it is. Didn't he have to pay back 
fifty dollars in good money, and didn't the man 
walk off with the boots ? " 

'^ That's true ; but he neither lost nor made by 
changing the bill. He received fifty dollars in 
good money and paid back the same, didn't he ? " 

"Yes." 

*' Whatever he lost his customer made, didn't 
he?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, the man walked off wnth forty-five 
dollars and a pair of boots. The other five dollars 
the shoemaker kept himself." 

" That's so, Jim. I see it now, but it's rather 
puzzling at first. Did you make that out your- 
self?" 

"Yes." 

" Then you've got a good head — better than I 
expected. Have you got any more questions ? " 

" Just a few." 

So the boy continued to ask questions, and the 
captain was more than once obliged to confess 
that he could not answer. He began to form a 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 47 

new opinion of his young cousin, who, though 
he filled the hunable position of a canal-boy, ap- 
peared to be well equipped with knowledge. 

" I guess that'll do, Jim," he said after a while. 
" You've got ahead of me, though I didn't expect 
it. A boy with such a head as you've got ought 
not to be on the tow-path." 

" What ought I to be doing, cousin ? " 

''You ought to keep school. You're better 
qualified than I am to-day, and yet I taught for 
three winters in Indiana." 

James was pleased with this tribute to his ac- 
quiremerits, especially from a former school- 
master. 

*' I never thought of that," he said. " I'm too 
young to keep school. I'm only fifteen." 

"That is rather young. You know enough; 
but I aint sure that you could tackle some of the 
big boys that would be coming to school. You 
know enough, but you need more muscle. I'll 
tell you what I advise. Stay with me this sum- 
mer — it won't do you any hurt, and you'll be 
earning something — then go to school a term or 
two, and by that time you'll be qualified to teach 
a district school." 



48 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

"I'll think of what you say, cousin," said 
James, thoughtfully. "I don't know but your 
advice is good." 

It is not always easy to say what circumstances 
have most influence in shaping the destiny of a 
boy, but it seems probable that the conversation 
which has just been detailed, and the discovery 
that he was quite equal in knowledge to a man 
who had been a schoolmaster, may have put new 
ideas into the boy's head, destined to bear fruit 
later. 

For the present, however, his duties as a canal- 
boy must be attended to, and they were soon to 
be resumed. 

About ten o'clock that night, when James was 
on duty, the boat approached the town of Akron, 
where there were twenty-one locks to be success- 
ively passed through. 

The night was dark, and, though the bowman of 
the Evening Star did not see it, another boat had 
reached the same lock from the opposite direction. 
Now in such cases the old rule, " first come, first 
served," properly prevailed. 

The bowman had directed the gates to be 
thrown open, in order tint tlie boat might enter 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 49 

the lock, when a voice was heard through the 
darkness, "Hold on, there! Our boat is just 
round the bend, ready to enter." 

" We have as much right as you," said the 
bowman. 

As he spoke he commenced turning the gate. 

My young reader will understand from the de- 
scription already given that it will not do to have 
both lower and upper gates open at the same 
time. Of course, one or the other boat mu3t wait. 

Both bowmen were determined to be first, and 
neither was willing to yield. Both boats were 
near the lock, their head-lights shining as bright 
as day, and the spirit of antagonism reached and 
affected the crews of both. 

Captain Letcher felt called upon to interfere 
lest there should be serious trouble. 

He beckoned to his bowman. 

" Were you here first ? " he asked. 

"It is hard to tell," answered the bowman, 
" but I'm bound to have the lock, anyhow." 

The captain was not wholly unaffected by the 
spirit of antagonism which his bowman displayed. 

" All right ; just as you say," he answeied, and 
it seemed likely that conflict was inevitable. 
4 



50 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

James Garfield had been an attentive observer, 
and an attentive listener to what had been said. 
He had formed his own ideas of what was ri^ht 
to be done. 

" Look here, captain," he said, tapping Captain 
Letcher on the arm, "does this lock belong to 
us?" 

" I really suppose, according to law, it does not ; 
but we will have it, anyhow." 

" IS'o, we will not," replied the boy. 

" And why not ? " asked the captain, naturally 
surprised at such a speech from his young driver. 

" Because it does not belong to us." 

The captain was privately of opinion that the 
boy was right, yet but for his remonstrance he 
would have stood out against the claims of the 
rival boat. He took but brief time for consider- 
ations, and announced his decision. 

" Boys," he said to his men, " Jim is right. Let 
them have the lock." 

Of course there was no more trouble, but the 
bowman, and the others connected with the Eve- 
ning Star, were angry. It irritated them to be 
obliged to give up the point, and wait humljly 
till the other boat had passed through the lock. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ei 

The steeisman was George Lee. When break- 
fast was called, he sat down by James. 

" What is the matter with you, Jim ?" he asked. 

" Nothing at all." 

" What made jou so for giving up the lock last 
night ? " 

" Because it wasn't ours. The other boat had 
it bj right." 

"Jim, you are a coward," said Lee contempt- 
uously. "You aint fit for a boatman. You'd 
better go back to the farm and chop wood or milk 
cows, for a man or boy isn't fit for this business 
that isn't ready to fight for his rights." 

James did not answer. Probably he saw thg i 
it would be of no use. George Lee was for hi.» 
own boat, right or wrong ; but James had already 
began to reflect upon the immutable principles of 
right or wrong, and he did not suffer his reason 
to be influenced by any considerations touching 
his own interests or his own pride. 

As to the charge of cowardice it did not trouMe 
him much. On a suitable occasion later on ( re 
shall tell the story in due season) he showed tha lie 
was willing to contend for his right?, when Ue 
was satisfied that the right was on his side. 



CHAPTER YI. 

JAMES LEAVES THE CAN^AL. 

James was not long to fill the hmnble position 
of driver. Before the close of the first trip he 
was promoted to the more responsible oflSce of 
bowman. Whether his wages were increased we 
are not informed. 

It may be well in this place to mention that a 
canal-boat required, besides the captain, two 
drivers, two steersmen, a bowman, and a cook, 
the last perhaps not the least important of the 
seven. " The bowman's business was to stop the 
boat as it entered the lock, bj throwing the bow- 
line that was attached to t lo bow of the boat 
around the snubbing post." It was to this posi- 
tion that James was promoted, though I have 
some doubt whether the place of driver, with the 
opportunities it afforded of riding on liorse or 
mu]e-back, did not suit him better. Still, promo- 
tion is always pleasant, and in this case it showed 
(52) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 53 



that the boy had discharged his humbler duties 
satisfactorily. 

I have said that the time came when James 
showed that he was not a coward. Edmund 
Kirke, in his admirable life of Garfield, has con- 
densed the captain's account of the occurrence, 
and I quote it here as likely to prove interesting 
to my boy readers : 

" The Evening Sta/r was at Beaver, and a steam- 
boat was ready to tow her up to Pittsburg. The 
boy was standing on deck with the selting-pole 
a2:ainst his shoulders, and some feet away stood 
Murphy, one of the boat hands, a big, burly fellow 
of thirty-five, when the steamboat threw the line, 
and, owing to a sudden lurch of the boat, it 
whirled over the boy's head, and flew in the 
direction of the boatman. ' Look out. Murphy ! ' 
cried the boy; but the rope had anticipated him, 
and knocked Murphy's hat off into the river. 
The boy expressed his regret, but it was of nc 
avail. In a towering rage the man rushed upon 
him, with his head down, like a maddened animal ; 
but, stepping nimbly aside, the boy dealt him a 
powerful blow behind the ear, and he tumbled to 
the bottom of the boat among the copper ore. 



54 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Before he eonld rise the boj was upon him, one 
hand upon his throat, the other raised for another 
blow upon his frontispiece. 

'^ ' Pound the cussed fool, Jim ! ' cried Captain 
Letcher, who was looking on appreciatingly. ' If 
he haiiit no rnore sense 'n to get mad at accidents, 
giv it ter him 1 Why don't you strike ? ' 

" But the boy did not strike, for the man was 
down and in his power. Murphy expressed regret 
for his rage, and then Garfield gave him his hand, 
and they became better friends than ever before. 
I'his victory of a boy of sixteen over a man of 
thirty-five obliterated the notion of young Gar- 
field's character for cowardice, and gave him a 
great reputation among his associates. The inci- 
dent is still well remembered among the boatmen 
of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal." 

The boy's speedy reconciliation to the man who 
had made so unprovoked an assault upon him was 
characteristic of his nature. He never could 
cherish malice, and it was very hard work for him 
to remain angry with any one, however great the 
provocation. 

Both as a boy and as a man he possessed great 
physical strength, as may be inferred from an 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



55 



incident told by the Boston Journal of his life 
when he was no longer the humble canal-boy, but 
a brigadier-general in the army : 

"At Pittsburg Landing one night in 1862 
there was a rush for rations by some newly- 
arrived troops. One strong, fine-looking soldier 
presented a requisition for a barrel of flour, and^ 
shouldering it^ walked off with ease. When the 
wagon was loaded, this same man stepped up to 
Colonel Morton, commanding the commissary 
steamers there, and remarked, ^I suppose you 
require a receipt for these supplies V ^ Yes,' said 
the Colonel, as he handed over the usual blank; 
*just take this provision return, and have it 
signed by your commanding officer.' ' Can't I 
sign it % ' was the reply. ' Oh, no,' said the affa- 
ble Colonel Morton ; ' it requires the signature of 
a commissioned officer.' Then came the remark, 
that still remains fresh in the Colonel's memory : 
' I am a commissioned officer — I'm a brigadier- 
general, and my name is Garfield, of Ohio.' " 

For four months James remained connected 
with the canal-boat. To show that traveling by 
canal is not so free from danger as it is supposed 
to be, it may be stated that in this short time he 



56 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 



fell into the water fourteen times. Usually lie 
scrambled out without further harm than a good 
wetting. One night, however, he was in serious 
pain. 

It was midnight, and rainy, when he was called 
up to take his turn at the bow. The boat was 
leaving one oi those long reaches of slack-water 
which abound in the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
Canal. He tumbled out of bed in a hurry, but 
half awake, and, taking his stand on the narrow 
platf oi-m below the bow-deck, he began uncoiling 
a rope to steady the boat through a lock it was ap- 
proaching. Finally it knotted, and caught in a 
narrow cleft on the edge of the deck. He gave 
it a strong pull, then another, till it gave way, 
sending him over the bow into the water. Down 
he went in the dark river, and, rising, was be- 
wildered amid the intense darkness. It seemed 
as if the boy's brief career was at its close. But 
he was saved as by a miracle. Eeaching out his 
hand in the darkness, it came in contact with the 
rope. Holding firmly to it as it tightened in his 
grasp, he used his strong arms to draw himself 
up hand over hand. His deliverance was due to 
a knot in the rope catching in a crevice, thus, as 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 57 

t tiglitened, sustaining him and enabling him to 
3limb on deck. 

It was a narrow escape, and he felt it to be so. 
He was a thoughtful boy, and it impressed him. 
The chances had been strongly against him, yet 
he had been sa\'ed. 

" God did it," thought James reverently \ " He 
has saved my life against large odds, and He must 
have saved it for some purpose. He has some 
work for me to do." 

Few boys at his age would have taken the mat- 
ter so seriously, yet in the light of after events 
shall we not say that James was right, and that 
God did have some work for him to perform ? 

This work, the boy decided, was not likely to 
be the one he was at present engaged in. The 
work of a driver or a bowman on a canal is doubt- 
less useful in its way, but James doubted whether 
he would be providentially set apart for any such 
business. 

It might have been this deliverance that turned 
his attention to religious matters. At any rate, 
hearing that at Bedford there was a series of pro- 
tracted meetings conducted by the Disciples, as 
they were called, he made a trip there, and be- 



53 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

came seriously impressed. There, too, he met a 
gentleman who was destined to exert an impor- 
tant influence over his destiny. 

This gentleman was Dr. J. P. Eobinson, who 
may be still living. Dr. Eobinson took a great 
liking to the boy, and sought to be of service to 
him. He employed him, though it may have 
been at a later period, to chop wood, and take 
care of his garden, and do chores about the 
house, and years afterward, as we shall see, it was 
he that enabled James to enter Wilhams College, 
and pursue his studies there until he graduated, 
and was ready to do the work of an educated 
man in the world. But we must not anticipate. 

Though James was strong and healthy he was 
not proof against the disease that lurked in the 
low lands bordering on the canal. He was at- 
tacked by fever and ague, and lay for some 
months sick at home. It was probably the only 
long sickness he had till the fatal wound which 
laid him on his bed when in the fullness of his 
fame he had taken his place among kings and 
rulers. It is needless to say that he had every at- 
tention that a tender mother could bestow, and in 
time he was restored to health. 



JAMES A. QABFIELD. 59 

During his sickness he had many talks with his 
mother upon his future prospects, and the course 
of life upon which it was best for him to enter. 
He had not yet given up all thoughts of the sea 
He had not forgotten the charms with which a sail- 
or's life is invested in Marryatt's fascinating novels. 
His mother listened anxiously to his dreams of 
happiness on the- sea, and strove to fix his mind 
upon higher things— to inspire him with a nobler 
ambition. 

" "What would you have me do, mother ? " he 
asked. 

" If you go back to the canal, my son, with the 
seeds of this disease lurking in your system, I 
iear you will be taken down again. I have 
thought it over. It seems to me you had better 
go to school this spring, and then, with a term in 
the fall, you may be able to teach in the winter. 
If you teach winters, and work on the canal or 
lake summers, you will have employment the year 
round." 

Nevertheless Mrs. Garfield was probably not in 
favor of his spending his summers in the way in- 
dicated. She felt, however, that her son, who 
was a boy like other boys, must be gradually 



go JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

weaned from the dreams that had bewitched his 
fancy. 

Then his mother proposed a practical plan. 

" You have been obliged to spend all jour 
money," she said, " but your brother Thomas and 
I will be able to raise seventeen dollars for you to 
start to school on, and when that is gone perhaps 
you will be able to get along on your own re- 



CHAPTEE YIL 

THE CHOICE OF A VOCATION. 

James Gaefield's experience on the canal waa 
over. The position was such an humble one that 
it did not seem likely to be of any service in the 
larger career vrhich one day was to open before 
him. But years afterward, when as a brigadier- 
general of volunteers he made an expedition into 
Eastern Kentucky, he realized advantage from 
his four months' experience on the canal. His 
command had run short of provisions, and a boat 
had been sent for supplies, but the river beside 
which the men were encamped had risen so high 
that the boat dared not attempt to go up the river. 
Then General Garfield, calling to his aid the skill 
with which he had guided the Evening Star at 
the age of fifteen, took command of the craft, 
stood at the wheel forty-four hours out of the 
forty-eight, and brought the supplies to his men at 

a time when they weie eating their last crackers. 

(61) 



g2 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

"Seek all knowledge, however trifling," say8 
an eminent author, '' and there will come a time 
when you can make use of it." 

James may never have read this remark, but 
he was continually acting upon it, and the spare 
moments which others devoted to recreation he 
used in adding to his stock of general knowledge. 

The last chapter closes with Mrs. Garfield's ad- 
vice to James to give up his plan of going to sea, 
and to commence and carry forward a course of 
education which should qualify him for a college 
professor, or a professional career. Her words 
made some impression upon his mind, but it is not 
always easy to displace cherished dreams. AYhile 
she was talking, a knock was heard at tlie door, 
and Mrs. Garfield, leaving her place at her son's 
bedside, rose and opened it. 

*' I am glad to see you, Mr. Bates," she said 
with a welcoming smile. 

Samuel D. Bates was the teacher of the school 
near by, an earnest young man, of exemplary 
habit=, who was looking to the ministry as his 
chosen vocation. 

"And how is James to-day?" asked the 
teacher, glancing toward the bed. 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 63 

'^ So well that lie is already beginning to make 
plans for tlie future," answered his mother. 

" What are your plans, James ? " asked the 
yoimg man. 

'' I should like best to go to sea," said James, 
" but mother doesn't approve of it." 

"She is wise," said Bates, promptly. *^You 
would find it a great disappointment." 

*' But, it must be delightful to skim over the 
waters, and visit countries far away," said the 
boy, his cheeks flushing, and his eyes glowing 
with enthusiasm. 

" You think so now ; but remember, you would 
be a poor, ignorant sailor, and would have to stay 
by the ship instead of exploring the wonderful 
cities at which the ship touched. Of course, you 
would have an occasional run on shore, but you 
could not shake off the degrading associations 
with which your life on shipboard would sur- 
round you." 

"Why should a sailor's life be degrading?" 
asked James. 

" It need not be necessarily, but as a matter of 
fact most sailors have low aims and are addicted 
to bad habits. Better wait till you can go to sea 



g^ BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

as a passenger, and enjoy to the fall the benefits 
of foreign travel." 

" There is something in that," said James, 
thoughtfully. " If I could only be sure of going 
some day." 

" Wouldn't it be pleasant to go as a man of 
culture, as a college professor, as a minister, or as 
a lawyer, able to meet on equal terms foreign 
scholai-s and gentlemen ? " 

This was a new way of putting it, and pro- 
duced a favorable impression on the boy's mind. 
Still, the boy had doubts, and expressed them 
freely. 

" That sounds well," he said ; " but how am I 
to know that I have brain enough to make a col- 
lege professor, or a minister, or a lawyer? " 

" I don't think there is much doubt on that 
point," said Bates, noting the bright, expressive 
face, and luminous eyes of the sick boy. " I 
should be willing to guarantee your capacity. 
Don't you think yourself fit for anything better 
than a common sailor ? " 

^'Yes," answered James. "I think I could 
make a good carpenter, for I know something 
about that trade already, and I daresay I oould 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. g5 

make a good trader if I could find an opening to 
learn the business ; but it takes a superior man to 
succeed in tbe positions jou mention." 

" There are plenty of men with only average 
ability who get along very creditably ; but I ad- 
vise you, if you make up your mind to enter the 
lists, to try for a high place." 

The boy's eyes sparkled with new ambition. 
It was a favorite idea with him afterward, that 
every man ought to feel an honorable ambition 
to succeed as well as possible in his chosen path. 

** One thing more," added Bates. "I don't 
think you have any right to become a sailor." 

"J^o right? Oh, you mean because mother 
objects.'' 

" That, certainly, ought to weigh with you as a 
good son ; but I referred to something else." 

** What then?" 

"Do you remember the parable of the tal- 
ents?" 

James had been brought up by his mother, 
who was a devoted religious woman, to read the 
Bible, and he answered in the afiirmative. 

" It seems to me that you are responsible for 
the talents which God has bestowed upon you. 
5 



gg BOYHOOD JJfD MANHOOD OF 

If jou have tlie ability or the brain, as jou call it, 
to insure success in a literary career, don't you 
think you would throw yourself away if you be- 
came a sailor ? " 

Mrs. Garfield, who had listened with deep 
interest to the remarks of the young man, re- 
garded James anxiously, to see what effect these 
arguments were having upon him. She did not 
fear disobedience. She knew that if she should 
make it a personal request, James was dutiful 
enough to follow her wishes ; but she respected 
the personal independence of her children, and 
wanted to convince, rather than to coerce, 
them. 

" If I knew positively that you were right in 
your estimate of me, Mr. Batee, I would go in for 
a course of study." 

" Consult some one in whose judgment you 
have confidence, James," said the teacher, 
promptly. 

" Can you suggest any one ? " asked the boy. 

" Yes ; Dr. J. P. Kobinson, of Bedford, is 
visiting at the house of President Hay den, of 
Hiram College. You have heard of him ? " 

"Yes." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



67 



" He is a man of ripe judgment, and yon can 
rely implicitly on what he says." 

" As soon as I am well enough I will do as you 
advise," said James. 

'' Then I am satisfied. I am sure the doctor 
will confirm my advice." 

"Mr. Bates," said Mrs. Garfield, as she fol- 
lowed out the young teacher, "I am much 
indebted to you for your advice to James. It is 
in accordance with my wishes. If he should 
decide to obtain an education, where would you 
advise him to go ? " 

" To the seminary where I have obtained all 
the education I possess/' answered the young 
man. 

"Where is it?" 

"It is called the * Geauga Seminary,' and is 
located in Chester, in the next county. For a 
time it will be sufiicient to meet all James' needs. 
"When he is further advanced he can go to Hiram 
College." 

"Is it expensive?" asked Mrs. Garfield. 
" James has no money except the few dollars his 
brother and I can spare him." 

" He will have plenty of company. Most of 



gg BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

the students are poor, but there are chances of 
finding v^ork in the neighborhood, and so earning 
a little money. James knows something of the 
carpenter's trade ? " 

" Yes, he helped build the house we live in, and 
he has been employed on several barns." 

My readers will remember that the Garfields 
no longer lived in the humble log-cabin in which 
we first found them. The money Thomas 
brought home from Michigan, supplemented by 
the labor of James and himself, had replaced it 
by a neat frame house, which was much more 
comfortable and sightly. 

" That will do. I think I know a man who 
will give him employment." 

" He is a boy of energy. If he gets fairly 
started at school, I think he will maintain himself 
there," said Mrs. Garfield. 

The teacher took his leave. 

When Mrs. Garfield re-entered the room she 
found James looking very thoughtful. 

'* Mother," he said, abruptly, "I want to get 
well as quick as I can. I am sixteen years old, 
and it is time I decided what to do with my- 
self." 



JAMEB A. GARFIELD. g9 

" You will think of what Mr. Bates has said, 
will you not ? " 

" Yes, mother ; as soon as I am well enough I 
will call on Dr. Robinson and ask his candid 
opinion. I will be guided by what he says." 



CHAPTER YIII. 

GEAUGA SEMINAET. 

I HAVE stated in a previous chapter that James 
became acquainted with Dr. Robinson while still 
employed on the canal. This statement was made 
on the authority of Mr. Philo Chamberlain, of 
Cleveland, who was part proprietor of the line of 
canal-boats on which the boy was employed. Ed- 
mund Kjrke, however, conveys the impression 
that James was a stranger to the doctor at the 
time he called upon him after his sickness. Mr. 
Kirke's information having been derived chiefly 
from General Garfield himself, I shall adopt his 
version, as confirmed by Dr. Robinson. 

When James walked up to the residence of 
President Hayden, and inquired for Dr. Robin- 
son, he was decidedly homespun in appearance. 
He probably was dressed in his best, but his best 
was shabby enough. His trowsers were of coarse 

satinet, and might have fitted him a season or two 
(70) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1\ 

before, but now were far outgrown, reaching only 
half-way down to the tops of his cowhide boots. 
His waistcoat also was much too short, and his coat 
was threadbare, the sleeves being so short as to 
display a considerable portion of his arms. Add 
to these a coarse slouched hat, much the worse for 
wear, and a heavy mass of yellow hair much too 
long, and we can easily understand what the good 
doctor said of him : *' He was wonderfully awk- 
ward, but had a sort of independent, go-as-you- 
please manner that impressed me favorably." 

" Who are you ? " asked the doctor. 

'^ My name is James Garfield, from Solon." 

'^ Oh, I know your mother, and knew you when 
you were a babe, but you have outgrown my 
knowledge. I am glad to see you." 

" I should like to see you alone," said James. 

The doctor led the way to a secluded spot in 
the neighborhood of the house, and then, sitting 
down on a log, the youth, after a little hesitation, 
opened his business. 

" You are a physician," he said, " and know the 
fiber that is in men. Examine me and teU me 
with the utmost frankness whether I had better 
take a course of liberal study. I am contem- 



72 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 



plating doing so, as my desire is in that direction. 
But if I am to make a failure of it, or practically 
so, I do not desire to begin. K you advise me 
not to do so I shall be content." 

In speaking of this incident the doctor has re- 
marked recently : " I felt that I was on my sacred 
honor, and the young man looked as though he felt 
himself on trial. 1 had had considerable experi- 
ence as a physician, but here was a case much dif- 
ferent from any I had ever had. I felt that it 
must be handled with great care. I examined 
his head and saw that there was a magnificent 
brain there. I sounded his lungs, and found that 
they were strong, and capable of making good 
blood. I felt his pulse, and felt that there was an 
engine capable of sending the blood up to the 
head to feed the brain. I had seen many strong 
physical systems with warm feet and cold, slug- 
gish brain ; and those who possessed such systems 
would simply sit round and doze. Therefore I 
was anxious to know about the kind of an engine to 
run that delicate machine, the brain. At the end 
of a fifteen minutes' careful examination of this 
kind, we rose, and I said : 

" ' Go on, follow the leadings of your ambition, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



73 



and ever after I am your friend. You have the 
brain of a Webster, and you have the physical 
proportions that will back you in the most hercu- 
lean efforts. All you need to do is to work ; work 
hard, do not be afraid of over-working and you 
will make your mark.' " 

It will be easily undei'stood that these words 
from a man whom he held in high respect were 
enough to fix the resolution of James. If he were 
really so well fitted for the work and the career 
which his mother desired him to foUow, it was 
surely his duty to make use of the talents which 
he had just discovered were his. 

After that there was no more question about 
going to sea. He deliberately decided to become 
a scholar, and then follow where Providence led 
the way. 

He would have liked a new suit of clothes, but 
this was out of the question. All the money he 
had at command was the seventeen dollars which 
his mother had offered him. He must get along 
with this sum, and so with hopeful heart he set 
out for Geauga Seminary. 

He did not go alone. On hearing of his deter- 
mination, two boj^s, one a cousin, made up their 
minds to accompany him. 



74 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Possibly my young readers may imagine the 
scene of leave-taking, as the stage drove up to the 
door, and the bovs with their trunks or valises 
were taken on board, but if so, imagination would 
picture a scene far different from the reality. 
Their outfit was of quite a different kind. 

For the sake of economy the boys were to 
board themselves, and Mrs. Garfield with provi- 
dent heart supplied James with a frying-pan, and 
a few necessary dishes, so that his body might not 
suffer while his mind was being fed. Such was 
the luxury that awaited James in his new home. 
I am afraid that the hearts of many of my young 
readers would sink within them if they thought 
that they must buy an education at such a cost as 
that. But let them not forget that this homespun 
boy, with his poor array of frying-pan and dishes, 
was years after to strive in legislative halls, and 
win the highest post in the gift of his fellow-citi- 
zens. And none of these things would have been 
his, in all likelihood, but for his early struggle 
with poverty. 

So far as I know, neither of his companions 
was any better off than James. All three were 
young adventurers traveling into the domains of 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 75 

science with hopeful hearts and fresh courage, not 
altogether ignorant of the hardships that awaited 
them, but prepared to work hard for the prizes 
of knowledge. 

Arrived at Geauga Seminary, thej called upon 
the principal and announced for what purpose 
they had come. 

" Well, young men, I hope you mean to work ? " 
he said. 

" Yes, sir," answered James promptly. " I am 
poor, and I want to get an education as quick as 
I can." 

" I like your sentiments, and I will help you as 
far as I can." 

The boys succeeded in hiring a room in an old 
unpainted building near the academy for a small 
weekly sum. It was unfurnished, but they suc- 
ceeded in borrowing a few dilapidated chairs from 
a neighbor who did not require them, and some 
straw ticks, which they spread upon the floor for 
sleeping purposes. In one corner they stowed 
their frying-pans, kettles, and dishes, and thus 
they set up housekeeping in humble style. 

The Geauga Seminary was a Freewill Baptist 
institution, and was attended by a considerable 



rjQ BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

number of students, to whom it did not, indeed, 
furnish what is called ''the higher education," 
but it was a considerable advance upon any school 
that James had hitherto attended. English 
grammar, natm-al philosophy, arithmetic, and 
algebra — these were the principal studies to 
which James devoted himself, and they opened 
to him new fields of thought. Probably it was at 
this humble seminary that he first acquired the 
thirst for learning that ever afterward character- 
ized him. 

Let us look in upon the three boys a night or 
two after they have commenced housekeeping. 

They take turns in cooking, and this time it is 
the turn of the one in whom we feel the strongest 
interest, 

"What have we got for supper, boys?" he 
asks, for the procuring of supplies has fallen to 
them. 

" Here are a dozen eggs," said Henry Boynton 
his cousin. 

" And here is a loaf of bread, which I got at 
the baker's," said his friend. 

" That's good ! We'll have bread and fried 
eggs. There is nothing better than that." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



77 



" Eggs have gone up a cent a dozen," remarks 
Henrj, gravely. 

This news is received seriously, for a cent 
means something to them. Probably even then 
the price was not greater than six to eight cents 
a dozen, for prices were low in the West at that 
time. 

"Then we can't have them so often," said 
James, philosophically, " unless we get something 
to do." 

" There's a carpenter's-shop a little way down 
the street," said Henry. " I guess you can find 
employment there." 

** I'll go round there after supper." 

Meanwhile he attended to his duty as cook, and 
in due time each of the boys was supplied with 
four fried eggs and as much bread as he cared for. 
Probably butter was dispensed with, as too costly 
a luxury, until more prosperous times. 

When supper was over the boys took a walk, 
and then, returning to their humble room, spent 
the evening in preparing their next morning's 
lessons. 

In them James soon took leading rank, for his 
brain was larger, and his powers of application 



73 JAMES A. OARFIELD. 

and intuition great, as Dr. Eobinson had implied. 
From the time he entered Geanga Seminary 
probably he never seriously doubted that he had 
entered upon the right path. 



k 



CHAPTER IX. 



WAYS AND MEANS. 



James called on the carpenter after supper and 
inquired if he could supply him with work. 

" I may be able to if you are competent," 
was the reply. " Have you ever worked at the 
business ? " 

'' Yes." 

"Where!" 

" At Orange, where my home is." 

" How long did you work at it ? " 

" Perhaps I had better tell you what I have 
done," said James. 

He then gave an account of the bams he had 
been employed upon, and the frame house 
which he had assisted to build for his mother. 

" 1 don't set up for a first-class workman," he 
added, with a smile, " but I think I can be of 
some use to you." 

" I will try you, for I am rather pressed with 
work just now." 

(?9) 



80 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

So, in a day or two James was set to work. 

The carpenter found that it was as he had 
represented. He was not a first-class workman. 
Indeed, he had only a rudimentary knowledge of 
the trade, but he was quick to learn, and in a 
short time he was able to help in many ways. 
His wages were not very large, but they were 
satisfactory, since they enabled him to pay his 
expenses and keep his head above water. Before 
the seventeen dollars were exhausted, he had 
earned quite a sum by his labor in the carpenter's- 
shop. 

About this time he received a letter from his 
brother. 

"Dear James," he wrote, "I shall be glad to 
hear how you are getting along. You took so 
little money with you that you may need more. 
If so, let me know, and I will try to send you 
some." 

James answered promptly : " Don't feel 
anxious about me, Thomas. I have been for- 
tunate enough to secure work at a carpenter's- 
shop, and my expenses of living are very small. 
I intend not to call upon you or mother again, 
but to pay my own way, if I keep my health." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



81 



He kept his word, and from that time did not 
find it necessaiy to call either upon his mother or 
his good brother, wlio was prepared to make per- 
sonal sacrifices, as he had been doingj all his life, 
that his younger brother might enjoy advantages 
which he had to do without. 

At length the summer vacation came, James 
had worked hard and won high rank in his re- 
spective studies. He had a robust frame, and he 
seemed never to get tired. No doubt he took 
especial interest in composition and the exercises 
of the debating society which flourished at 
Geauga, as at most seminaries of advanced educa- 
tion. In after-life he was so ready and powerful 
in debate, that we can readily understand that he 
must have begun early to try his powers. Many 
a trained speaker has first come to a consciousness 
of his strength in a lyceum of boys, pitted against 
some school-fellow of equal attainments. No 
doubt many crude and some ludicrous speeches 
are made by boys in their teens, but at least they 
learn to think on their feet, and acquire the 
ability to stand the gaze of an audience without 
discomposure. A certain easy facility of ex- 
pression also is gained, which enables them to 
6 



32 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

acquit themselves creditably on a more important 
stage. 

James early learned that the best preparation 
for a good speech is a thorough familiarity with 
the subject, and in his after-life he always care- 
fully prepared himself, so that he was a forcible 
debater, whom it was not easy to meet and 
conquer. 

" He once told me how he prepared his 
speeches," said Kepresentative Williams, of Wis- 
consin, since his death. ''First he filled himself 
with the subject, massing all the facts and 
principles involved, so far as he could ; then he 
took pen and paper and wrote down the salient 
points in what he regarded their logical order. 
Then he scanned these critically, and fixed them 
in his memory. ' And then,' said he, ' I leave 
the paper in my room and trust to the emer- 
gency.' " 

When the vacation came James began to look 
about for work. He could not afford to be idle. 
Moreover, he hoped to be able to earn enough 
that he might not go back empty-banded in the 
fall. 

Generally work comes to him who earnestly 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. gg 

seeks it, and James heard of a man who wanted 
some wood cut. 

He waited upon this man and questioned him 
about it. 

" Yes," he answered, " I want the w^ood cut. 
What will you charge to do it ? " 

" How much is there ? " 

" About a hundred cords." 

James thought of the time when he cut twenty- 
five cords for seven dollars, and he named a price 
to correspond. 

" I'll give you twenty-five dollars," said the 
proprietor of the wood. 

It was a low price for the labor involved, but, 
on the other hand, it would be of essential service 
to the struggling student. 

" I will undertake it," he said. 

" When will you go to work ? " 

'' Now ! " answered James promptly. 

How long it took him to do the work we have 
no record, but he doubtless worked steadfastly 
till it was accomplished. We can imagine the 
satisfaction he felt when the money was put into 
his hands, and he felt that he w^oiild not need to 
be quite so economical in the coming term. 



34 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Accordingly, when the vacation was over and 
James went back to the seminary, he did not 
re-engage the room which he and his two friends 
had rented the term before. He reahzed that to 
be in a condition to study well he must feed his 
body well, and he was in favor of a more gener- 
ous system of diet. Besides, the labor required 
for cooking was so much time taken from his 
study hours. 

He heard that a widow — Mrs. Stiles — mother 
of the present sheriff of Ashtabula County, was 
prepared to receive boarders, and, accordingly, 
he called upon her to ascertain if she would re- 
ceive him. 

She knew something of him already, for she 
learned that he had obtained the reputation of a 
steady and orderly student, and was disposed to 
favor his application. 

The next question was an important one to 
young Garfield. 

" How much do you expect me to pay ? " 

He waited with some anxiety for the answer, 
for tliough he had twenty-five dollars in his 
pocket, the term was a long one, and tuition was 
to be paid also. 



JAMES A. OABFIELD. 85 

" A dollar and six cents will be about right," 
said Mrs. Stiles, " for board, washing, and lodg- 
ing." 

" That will be satisfactory," said James, with a 
sigh of relief, for he saw his way clear to pay 
this sum for a time, at least, and for the whole 
term if he could again procure employment at his 
old trade. 

A dollar and six cents ! It was rather an odd 
sum, and we should consider it nowadays as very 
low for any sort of board in any village, however 
obscure or humble. But in those days it was not 
so exceptional, and provisions were so much lower 
that the widow probably lost nothing by her 
boarder, though she certainly could not have made 
much. 

James had no money to spare for another pur- 
pose, though there was need enough of it. He 
needed some new clothes badly. He had neither 
underclothing nor overcoat, and but one outside 
suit, of cheap Kentucky jean. No doubt he was 
subjected to mortification on account of his slen- 
der suppl}^ of clothing. At any rate he was once 
placed in embarrassing circumstances. 

Toward the close of the term, as Mrs. Stiles 



gg JAMES A. OARFIELD. 

sajs, his trowsers became exceedingly thin at the 
knees, and one unlucky day, when he was incau- 
tiously bending forward, they tore half-way round 
the leg, exposing his bare knee 

James was very much mortified, and repaired 
damages as well as he could with a pin. 

" I need a new suit of clothes badly," he said 
in the evening, " but I can't afford to buy one. 
See how I have torn my trowsers." 

" Oh, that is easy enough to mend," said Mrs. 
Stiles, cheerfully. 

" But I have no other pair to wear while they 
are being mended," said James, with a blush. 

" Then you must go to bed early, and send 
them down by one of the boys. I will dam the 
hole so that you will never know it. You won't 
mind such trifles when you become President." 

It was a jocose remark, and the good lady little 
dreamed that, in after years, the young man with 
but one pair of pantaloons, and those more than 
half worn, would occupy the proud position slie 
referred to. 



CHAPTEE X. 

A COUSm's KEMmiSCENCES. 

1>TJRING his school-life at Geauga Seminary 
James enjoyed the companionship of a cousin, 
Henry B. Boynton, who still lives on the farm 
adjoining the one on which our hero was born. 
The relationship between the two boys was much 
closer than is common between cousins ; for while 
their mothers were sisters, their fathers were haH- 
brothers. Henry was two years older than James, 
and they were more like brothers than cousins. 
I am sure my young readers will be glad to read 
what Henry has to say of their joint school-life. I 
quote from the account of an interview held with 
a correspondent of the Boston Herald, bearing 
the date of September 23, 1881 : 

When General Garfield was nominated to the 
Presidency his old neighbors in Orange erected a 
fiag-staff whei-e the house stood which Garfield 
and his brother erected for their mother and sis- 

(87) 



33 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

ters with their own hands, after the log hut, a 
little farther out in the field nearer the wood, had 
become unfit for habitation. Thomas Garfield, 
the uncle of the President, who not long since 
was killed bj a railroad accident, directed the 
manual labor of rearing the shaft, and was proud 
of his work. 

There is nothing except this hole left to mai-k 
his birth-place, and the old well, not two rods off, 
which he and. his brother dug to furnish water 
for the family. In the little maple grove to the 
left, children played about the school-house where 
the dead President first gathered the rudiments 
upon which he built to such purpose. The old 
orchard in its sere and yellow leaf, the dying 
grass, and the turning maple leaves seemed to 
join in the great mourning. 

Adjoining the field where the flag floats is an 
unpretentious home, almost as much identified 
with Gen. Gai-field's early history as the one he 
helped to clear of the forest timber while he was 
yet but a child. It is the home of Henry B. 
Boynton, cousin of the dead President, and a 
brother of Dr. Boynton, whose name has become 
BO weU known from recent events. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



89 



Wliile rambling over this place the correspond- 
ent came upon this near relative of Garfield, 
smaller in stature than he was, but in features 
bearing a striking resemblance to him. 

" General Garfield and I were like brothers," 
he said, as he turned from giving some directions 
to his farm hands, now sowing the fall grain upon 
ground which his cousin had first helped to break. 
" His father died yonder, within a stone's throw 
of us, when the son was but a year and a half 
old. He knew no other father than mine, who 
watched over the family as if it had been his 
own. This \QYy house in which I live was as 
much his home as it was mine. 

"Over there," said he, pointing to the brick 
school-house in the grove of maples, around which 
the happy children were playing, " is where he 
and I both started for school. I have read a 
statement that he could not read or write until 
he was nineteen. He could do both before he 
was nine, and before he was twelve, so familiar 
was he with the Indian history of the country, 
that he had named every tree in the orchard, 
which his father planted as he was born, with the 
name of some Indian chief, and even debated in 



90 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

societies, religion, and other topics with men. 
One favorite tree of his he named Tecumseh, and 
the branches of many of these old trees have 
been cut since his promotion to the Presidency 
by relic-hunters, and carried away. 

" Gen. Garfield was a remarkable boy as well 
as man. It is not possible to tell you the fight 
he made amid poverty for a place in life, and 
how gradually he obtained it. "When he was a 
boy he would rather read than work. But he 
became a great student. He had to work after 
he was twelve years of age. In those days we 
were all poor, and it took hard knocks to get on. 
He worked clearing the fields yonder with his 
brother, and then cut cord- wood, and did other 
farm labor to get the necessities of life for his 
mother and sisters. 

*' I remember when he was fourteen years of 
age, he went away to work at Daniel Morse's, 
not four miles down the road from here, and 
after the labors of the day he sat down to listen 
to the conversation of a teacher in one of the 
schools of Cleveland, when it was yet a village, 
who had called. The talk of the educated man 
pleased the boy, and, while intent u]Don his story, 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. ^^ 

a daugliter of the man for whom he was working 
infoi'med the future President with great dignity 
that it was time that servants were in bed, and 
that she preferred his absence to his presence. 

" Nothing that ever happened to him so severe- 
ly stung him as this affront. In his youth he 
could never refer to it without indignation, and 
almost immediately he left Mr. Morse's employ 
and went on the canal. He said to me then that 
those people should live to see the day when they 
would not care to insult him. 

" His experience on the canal was a severe one, 
but perhaps useful I can remember the winter 
when he came home after the summer's service 
there. He had the chills all that fall and winter, 
yet he would shake and get his lessons at home ; 
go over to the school and recite, and thus keep 
up with his class. The next spring found him 
weak from constant ague. Yet he intended to 
return to the canal. 

" Here came the turning-point in his life. Mr. 
Bates, who taught the school, pleaded with him 
not to do so, and said that if he would continue 
in school till the next fall he could get a certifi- 
cate. I received a certificate about the same time 



92 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

The next year we went to the seminary at 
Chester, only twelve miles distant. Here our 
books were furnished us, and we cooked our o^vn 
victuals. We lived upon a dollar a week each. 
Our diet was strong, but very plain ; mush and 
molasses, pork and potatoes. Saturdays we took 
our axes, and went into the woods and cut cord- 
wood. During vacations we labored in the har- 
vest-field, or taught a district school, as we 
could. 

" Yonder," said he, pointing to a beautiful val- 
ley, about two miles distant, *^ stands the school- 
house where Garfield fii'st taught school. He got 
twelve dollars a month, and boarded round. I 
also taught school in a neighboring town. We 
both went back to Chester to college, and would 
probably have finished our education there, but 
it was a Baptist school, and they were constantly 
making flings at the children of the Disciples, 
and teaching sectarianism. As the Disciples 
grew stronger they determined their children 
should not be subjected to such influence; the 
college of our own Church was established at 
Hiram, and there Garfield and I went." 

Though the remainder of the reminiscences 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



93 



somewhat anticipate the course of our story, it is 
perhaps as well to insert it here. 

" We lodged in the basement most of the time, 
and boarded at the present Mrs. Garfield's father's 
house. During our school-dajs here I nursed the 
late President through an attack of the measles 
which nearly ended his life. He has often said, 
that, were it not for my attention, he could not 
have lived. So you see that the General and my- 
self were very close to one another from the time 
either of us could lisp until he became President. 
Here is a picture we had taken together," show- 
ing an old daguerreotype. " It does not resemble 
either of us much now. And yet they do say 
that we bore in our childhood, and still bear, a 
striking resemblance. I am still a farmer, while 
he grew great and powerful. He never permitted 
a suggestion, however, to be made in my presence 
as to the difference in our paths of hfe. He vis- 
ited me here before election, and looked with 
gratification upon that pole yonder, and its flag, 
erected by his neighbors and kinsmen. He wan- 
dered over the fields he had himself helped clear, 
and pointed out to me trees from the limbs of 
which he had shot squirrel after squirrel, and be- 



94 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

neath the branches of which he had played and 
worked in the years of his infancy and boyhood. 

" I forgot to say that one of Gen. Garfield's 
striking characteristics while he was growing up, 
was, that when he saw a boy in the class excel him 
in anything, he never gave up till he reached the 
same standard, and even went beyond it. It got 
to be known that no scholar could be ahead of 
him. Our association as men has been almost as 
close as that of our boyhood, though not as con- 
stant. The General never forgot his neighbors 
or less fortunate kinsmen, and often visited us as 
we did him." 

More vivid than any picture I could draw ?.s 
this description, by the most intimate friend of his 
boyhood, of James Garfield's way of life, his strug- 
gles for an education, his constant desire to excel, 
and his devotion to duty. "We have already pict- 
ured the rustic boy in his humble room, cooking 
his own food, and living, as his cousin testifies, on 
a dollar a week. Is there any other country 
where such humble beginnings could lead to such 
influence and power? Is there any other land 
where such a lad could make such rapid strides 
toward the goal which crowns the highest ambi- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 95 

tion ? It is the career of such men that most 
commends our Government and institutions, prov- 
ing as it does that bj the humblest and poorest 
the highest dignities may be attained. James was 
content to live on mush and molasses, pork and 
potatoes, since they came within his narrow 
means, and gave him sufficient strength to pursue 
his cherished studies. ]!^or is his an exceptional 
case. T have myself known college and profes- 
sional students who have lived on sixty cents a 
week (how, it is difficult to tell), while their minds 
were busy with the loftiest problems that have 
ever engaged the human intellect. Such boys 
and young men are the promise of the republic. 
They toil upwards while others sleep, and many 
such have written their names high on the table\;s 
in the Temple of Fame. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

LEDGE HILL SCHOOL. 

EvEE since he began to study at Geauga Semi- 
nary James had looked forward to earning «. little 
money by keeping school himself ; not an ad- 
vanced school, of course, but an ordinary school, 
such as was kept in the country districts in the 
winter. He felt no hesitation as to his compe- 
tence. The qualifications required by the school 
committees were by no means large, and so far 
there was no difficulty. 

There was one obstacle, however : James was 
still a boy himself — a large boy, to be sure, but he 
had a youthful face, and the chances were that he 
would have a number of pupils older than him- 
self. Could he keep order ? "Would the rough 
country boys submit to the authority of one like 
themselves, whatever might be his reputation as 
a scholar ? This was a point to consider anxiously. 
However, James had pluck, and he was ready to 

try the experiment. 
(06) 



I 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. gir 

He would have been glad to secure a school so 
far away that he could go there as a stranger, and 
be received as a young man. But no such oppor- 
tunity offered. There was another opening nearer 
home. 

A teacher was wanted for the Ledge Hill dis- 
trict in Orange, and the committee-man bethought 
himself of James Garfield. 

So one day he knocked at Mrs. Garfield's door. 
" Is James at home ? " he asked. 
James heard the question, and came forward 
to meet his visitor. 

" Good-morning," he said, pleasantly; " did you 
want to see me ? " 

" Are you calculating to keep school this win- 
ter ? " asked his visitor. 

" If I can get a school to keep," was the reply. 
*• That's the business I came- about. We want 
a schoolmaster for the Ledge Hill School. How 
would you like to try it ? " 

" The Ledge Hill School I " repeated James, in 
some dismay. "Why, all the boys know me 
there." 

" Of course they do. Then they won't need to 
be introduced." 
7 



98 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

"Will thej obey me? That's what I was 
thinking of. There are some pretty hard cases 
in that school." 

" That's where yon are right." 

" I wouldn't like to try it and fail," said James, 
doubtfully. 

" You won't if you'll follow my advice," said 
the committee-man. 

"What's that?" 

"Thrash the first boy that gives you any 
trouble. Don't half do it ; but give him a sound 
flogging, so that he will understand who's master. 
You're strong enough ; you can do it." 

James extended his muscular arm with a smile. 
He knew he was strong. He was a large boy, 
and his training had been such as to develop his 
muscles. 

" You know the boys that will go to school. 
Is there any one that can master you ? " asked his 
visitor. 

" Ko, I don't think there is," answered James, 
with a S!nile. 

" Then you'll do. Let 'em know you are not 
afraid of them the first day. That's the best ad 
vice 1 can give you." 



i 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 99 

^' I shouldn't like to get into a fight with a 
pupil," said James, slowlj. 

'' You'll have to run the risk of it unless you 
teach a girls' school. I guess you wouldn't have 
any trouble there." 

" Not of that kind, probably. What wages do 
you pay ? " 

"- Twelve dollars a month and board. Of course, 
you'll board round." 

Twelve dollars a month would not be considered 
very high wages now, but to James it was a con- 
sideration. He had earned as much in other 
ways, but he was quite anxious to try his luck at 
a teacher. That might be his future vocation: 
not teaching a district school, of course, but this 
would be the first round of the ladder that might 
lead to a college professorship. The first step is 
the most difficult, but it must be taken, and the 
Ledge Hill School, difficult as it probably would 
be, was to be the first step for the future Presi- 
dent of Hiram College. 

All these considerations James rapidly revolved 
in his mind, and then he came to a decision. 

" When does the school commence ? " he 
asked. 



103 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

'' :N'ext Monday." 

" I accept your offer. I'll be on hand in time." 

The news quickly reached the Ledge Hill dis- 
trict that "Jim Garfield," as he was popularly 
called, was to be their next teacher. 

''Have you heard about the new master?" 
asked Tom Bassett, one of the hard cases, of a 
friend. 

"No. Who is it?" 

" Jim Garfield." 

The other whistled. 

"You don't mean it ? " 

" Yes, I do." 

" How did you hear ? " 

" Mr. ," naming the committee-man, " told 

me." 

" Then it must be so. "We'll have a high old 
time if that's so." 

" So we will," chuckled the other. " I'm anx- 
ious for school to begin." 

" He's only a boy like us." 

" That's so." 

" He knows enough for a teacher; but knowin 
isn't everything." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. \{)\ 

" You're right. We can't be expected to mind 
a boy like ourselves that we've known all our 
lives." 

" Of course not." 

^' I like Jim well enough. He's a tip-top feller ; 
but, all the same, he aint goin' to boss me round." 

'' Nor me, either." 

This conversation between Tom Bassett and 
Bill Stackpole (for obvious reasons I use assumed 
names) augured ill for the success of the youog 
teacher. They determined to make it hot for 
him, and have all the fun they wanted. 

They thought they knew James Garfield, but 
they made a mistake. They knew that he was 
of a peaceable disposition and not fond of quar- 
reling, and although they also knew that he was 
strong and athletic, they decided that he would 
not long be able to maintain his position. If they 
had been able to read the doubts and fears that 
agitated the mind of their future preceptor, they 
would have felt confirmed in their belief. 

The fact was, James shrank from the ordeal 
that awaited him. 

*' If I were only going among strangers," he 
said to his mother, '' I wouldn't mind it so much ; 



]Q2 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

but all these bojs and girls have known me ever 
since I was a small boy and went barefoot." 

^' Does jom- heart fail jou, my son? " asked his 
mother, who sympathized with him, yet saw that 
it was a trial which must come. 

" I can't exactly say that, but I dread to 
begin." 

" We must expect to encounter difficulties and 
perplexities, James, l^one of our lives run all 
smoothly. Shall we conquer them or let them 
conquer us ? " 

The boy's spirit was aroused. 

'* Say no more, mother," he replied. " I will 
undertake the school, and if success is any way 
possible, I will succeed. I have been shrinking 
from it, but I w^on't shrink any longer." 

'' That is the spirit that succeeds, James." 

James laughed, and in answer quoted Camp- 
bell's stirring lines with proper emphasis : 

" I Tvill victor exult, or in death be laid low, 
With my face to the field and my feet to the foe." 



So the time passed till the eventful day dawned 
on which James was to assume charge of his first 
school. He was examined, and adjudged to be 



JAMES A. QABFIELD. J^()3 

qualified to teach; but that he anticipated in 
advance. 

The building is still standing in which James 
taught his first school. It is used for quite 
another pui-pose now, being occupied as a carriage- 
house by the thrifty farmer who owns the ground 
upon which it stands. The place where the 
teacher's desk stood, behind which the boy stood 
as preceptor, is now occupied by two stalls for 
carriage-horses. The benches which once con- 
tained the children he taught have been removed 
to make room for the family carriage, and the 
play-ground is now a barnyard. The building 
sits upon a commanding eminence known as 
Ledge Hill, and overlooks a long valley winding 
between two lines of hills. 

This description is furnished by the same corre- 
spondent of the Boston Herald to whom I am 
already indebted for Henry Boynton's reminis- 
cences contained in the last chapter. 

When James came in sight, and slowly 
ascended the hill in sight of the motley crew of 
boys and girls who were assembled in front of 
the school-house on the first morning of the term, 
it was one of the most trying moments of his 



104: JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

life. He knew instinctively that the boys were 
anticipating the fun in store for them in the in- 
evitable conflict which awaited him, and he felt 
constrained and nervous. He managed, however, 
to pass through the crowd, wearing a pleasant 
smile and greeting his scholars with a bow. 
There was trouble coming, he was convinced, but 
he did not choose to betray any apprehension. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WHO SHALL BE MASTEE? 

With as much dignity as was possible under 
the circumstances, James stepped to the teacher's 
desk and rang the bell. 

This was hardly necessary, for out of curiosity 
all the scholars had promptly followed the young 
teacher into the school-room and taken their 
seats. 

After the introductory exercises, James made 
a brief address to the scholars : 

" I don't need any introduction to you," he said, 

" for you all know me. I see before me many 

who have been my playfellows and associates, but 

to-day a new relation is established between us. 

I am here as your teacher, regularly appointed by 

the committee, and it is my duty to assist you as 

far as I can to increase your knowledge. I should 

hardly feel competent to do so if I had not lately 

attended Geauga Seminary, and thus improved 

my own education. I hope you will consider me 

(105) 



IQQ BOYHOOD ANL MANHOOD OF 

a friend, not only as I have been, but as one wlio 
is interested in promoting your best interests. 
One tbing more," he added, "it is not only n y 
duty to teach you, but to maintain good order, 
and this I mean to do. In school I wish you to 
look upon me as your teacher, but outside I shall 
join you in your sports, and be as much a boy as 
any of you. We will now proceed to our daily 
\essons." 

This speech was delivered with seK-possession, 
and favorably impressed all who heard it, even 
the boys who meant to make trouble, but they 
could not give up their contemplated fun. ISTever- 
theless, by tacit agreement, they preserved per- 
fect propriety for the present. They were not 
ready for the explosion. 

The boy teacher was encouraged by the unex- 
pected quiet. 

" After all," he thought, " everything is likely 
to go smoothly. I need not have troubled myself 
so much." 

He knew the usual routine at the opening of 
a school term. The names of the children were 
to be taken, they were to be divided into classes, 
and lessons were to be assigned. Feeling more 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 107 

conlidence in himself, James went about this 
work in business fashion, and when recess came, 
the comments made by the pupils in the play- 
ground were generally favorable. 

" He's going to make a good teacher," said one 
of the girls, ''as good as any we've had, and he's 
so young too." 

" He goes to work as if he knew how," said 
another. ''I didn't think Jimmy Garfield had 
so much in him." 

" Oh, he's smart ! " said another. " Just think 
of brother Ben trying to keep school, and he's 
just as old as James." 

Meanwhile Tom Bassett and Bill Stackpole 
had a private conference together. 

" What do you thhik of Jim's speech, Bill ? " 
asked Tom. 

" Oh, it sounded well enough, but I'll bet he 
was trembling in his boots all the while he was 
talkin'." 

*' Maybe so, but he seemed cool enough." 

" Oh, that was all put on. Did you hear what 
he said about keepin' order ? " 

" Yes, he kinder looked at you an' me when 
he was talkin'." 



108 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" I guess he heard about our turnin' out the 
last teacher." 

" Of course. I tell jou, it took some cheek to 
come here and order 'round us boys that has 
known him all his life." 

" That's so. Do you think he's goin' to main- 
tain order, as he calls it ? " 

"You just wait till afternoon. He'll know 
better then." 

James did not go out to recess the first day. 
fle had some things to do affecting the organiza- 
tion of the school, and so he remained at his 
desk. Several of the pupils came up to consult 
him on one point or another, and he received 
them all with that pleasant manner which through- 
out his life was characteristic of him. To one 
and another he gave a hint or a suggestion, based 
upon his knowledge of their character and abili- 
ties. One of the boys said : " Do you think I'd 
better study grammar, Jimmy — I mean Mr. Gar- 
field ? " 

James smiled. He knew the slip was uninten- 
tional. Of course it would not do for him to 
allow himself to be addressed in school by a pupil 
as Jimmy. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 109 

" Yes," be answered, " unless you think you 
know all about it already." 
. " I don't know tbe first thing about it." 

" Then, of course, you ought to study it. Why 
shouldn't you? " 

" But I can't make nothin' out of it. I can't 
understand it nohow." 

" Then you need somebody to explain it to 
you." 

" It's awful stupid." 

" I don't think you will find it so when you 
come to know more about it. I shall be ready to 
explain it. I think I can make you understand 
it." 

Another had a sum he could not do. So James 
found the recess pass quickly away, and again 
the horde of scholars poured into the school-room. 

It was not till afternoon that the conflict came. 

Tom Bassett belonged to the first class in geog- 
raphy. 

James called out the class. 

All came out except Tom, who lounged care- 
lessly in his seat. 

" Thomas, don't you belong to this class ? " 
asked the young teacher. 



11Q BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" I reckon I do." 

" Then why don't you come out to recite '( " 

" Oh, I feel lazy," answered Tom, with a sig 
nificant smile, as if to inquire, " What are you 
goin' to do about it ? " 

James thought to himself with a thrill of un 
pleasant excitement, " It's coming. In ten min- 
utes I shall know whether Tom Bassett or I is to 
rule this school." 

His manner was calm, however, as he said, 
" That is no excuse. I can't accept it. As your 
teacher I order you to join your class." 

" Can't you wait till to-morrow ? " asked Tom , 
with a gi'in, which was reflected on the faces of 
several other pupils. 

" I think I understand you," said James, with 
outward calmness. " You defy my authority." 

" You're only a boy like me," said Tom ; " I 
don't see why I should obey you." 

"If you were teacher, and I pupil, I should 
obey you," said James, " and I expect the same 
of you." 

^' Oh, go on with the recitation ! " said Tom, 
lazily. " JSTever mind me ! " 

James felt that he could aiford to wait no longer. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^-^ 

Turning to the class, he said, " I shall have to 
delay you for a minute." 

He walked deliberately up to the seat where 
Tom Bassett was sitting. 

Tom squared off in the expectation of an assault ; 
but, with the speed of lightning, the young 
teacher grasped him by the collar, and, with a 
strength that surprised himself, dragged him from 
his seat, in spite of his struggles, till he reached 
the place where the class was standing. 

By this time Bill Stackpole felt called upon to 
help his partner in rebellion. 

"You let him alone!" he said, menacingly, 
stepping forward. 

" One at a time ! " said James, coolly. "• I will 
be ready for you in a minute." 

He saw that there was only one thing to do. 
He dragged Tom to the door, and forcibly 
ejected him, saying, "When you get ready to 
obey me you can come back." 

He had scarcely turned when Bill Stackpole 
was. upon him. 

With a quick motion of the foot James tripped 
him up, and, still retaining his grasp on his col- 
lar, said, " Will you go or stay ? " 



112 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Bill was less resolute than Tom. 

*' I guess I'll stay," he said ; then picked him. 
self up and resumed his place in the class. 

Apparently calm, James returned to his desk, 
and commenced hearing the class recite. 

The next morning, on his way to school, James 
overtook Tom Bassett, who eyed him with evident 
embarrassment Tom's father had sent him back 
to school, and Tom did not dare disobey. 

*' Good-morning, Tom," said James, pleas- 
antly. 

" Mornin' ! " muttered Tom. 

" I hope you are going to school ? " 

" Father says I must." 

" I am glad of that, too. By the way, Tom, I 
think I shall have to get some of the scholars to 
help me with some of the smaller pupils. I should 
like to get you to hear the lowest class in arith- 
metic to-day." 

" You want me to help you teach ? " exclaimed 
Tom, in amazement. 

" Tes ; it will give me more time for the 
higher classes." 

" And you don't bear no malice on account of 
yesterday ? " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. \\^ 

" Oh, no ; we are too good friends to mind 
such a trifle." 

" Then," said Tom, impulsively, " you won't 
have no more trouble with me. I'll help you all 
I can." 

There was general surprise felt when the young 
teacher and his rebellious scholar were seen ap- 
proaching the school-house, evidently on the most 
friendly terms. There was still greater surprise 
when, during the forenoon, James requested Tom 
to hear the class already mentioned. At recess 
Tom proclaimed his intention to lick any boy that 
was impudent to the teacher, and the new Gar- 
field administration seemed to be established on a 
firm basis. 

This incident, which is based upon an actual 
resort to war measures on the part of the young 
teacher, is given to illustrate the strength as well 
as the amiability of Garfield's character. It was 
absolutely necessary that he should show his 
ability to govern. 



8 



CHAPTER XIIL 

JAMES LEAVES GEAUGA SE]\nNAEY. 

"While teaching his first school James " boarded 
round " among the families who sent pupils to his 
schooL It was not so pleasant as having a per- 
manent home, but it afforded him opportunities of 
reaching and influencing his scholars which other- 
wise he could not have enjoyed. With his cheer- 
ful temperament and genial manners, he could 
hardly fail to be an acquisition to any family with 
whom he found a home. He was ready enough 
to join in making the evenings pass pleasantly, 
and doubtless he had ways of giving instruction 
indirectly, and inspiring a love of learning simi- 
lar to that which he himself possessed. 

He returned to school with a small sum of 
money in his pocket, which was of essential serv- 
ice to him in his economical way of living. But 
he brought also an experience in imparting knowl- 
edge to others which was of still greater value. 
(114) 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 



115 



An eminent teacher has said that we never fully 
know anything till we have tried to impart it to 
others. 

James remained at the Geauga Seminary for 
three years. Every winter he taught school, and 
with success. In one of these winter sessions, we 
are told by Eev. William M. Thayer, in his biog- 
raphy of Garfield, that he was applied to by an 
ambitious student to instruct him in geometry. 
There was one difficulty in the way, and that a 
formidable one. He was entirely unacquainte I 
with geometry himself. But, he reflected, here 
is an excellent opportunity for me to acquire a 
new branch of knowledge. Accordingly he pro- 
cured a text-book, studied it faithfully at nigh*-, 
keeping sufficiently far ahead of his pupil to 
qualify him to be his guide and instructor, and the 
pupil never dreamed that his teacher, like himself, 
was traversing unfamiliar ground. 

It was early in his course at Geauga that he 
made the acquaintance of one who was to prove 
his closest and dearest friend — the young lady 
who in after years was to become his wife. Lu- 
cretia Eudolph was the daughter of a farmer in 
the neighborhood—" a quiet, thoughtful girl, of 



llg BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

singularly sweet and refined disposition, fond of 
study and reading, and possessing a warm heart, 
and a mind capable of steady growth." Probably 
James was first attracted to her by intellectual 
sympathy and a community of tastes ; but as time 
passed he discerned in her something higher and 
better than mere intellectual aspiration ; and who 
shall say in the light that has been thrown by re- 
cent events on the character of Lucretia Garfield, 
that he was not wholly right ? 

Though we are anticipating the record, it may 
be in place to say here that the acquaintance 
formed here was renewed and ripened at Hiram 
College, to which in time both transferred them- 
selves. There as pupil-teacher James Garfield be- 
came in one branch the instructor of his future 
wife, and it was while there that the two became 
engaged. It was a long engagement. James had 
to wait the traditional " seven years " for his wife, 
but the world knows how well he was repaid for 
his long waiting. 

"Did you know Mrs. Garfield ?" asked a re- 
porter of the Chicago Inter-Ocean of Mr. Philo 
Chamberlain, of Cleveland. 

" Yes, indeed," was the reply. " My wife knows 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



117 



her intimatelj. They used to teach school to- 
gether in Cleveland. Mrs. Garfield is a splendid 
lady. She wasn't what you would call a brilliant 
teacher, but she was an unusually good one, very 
nidustrious, and the children made rapid progi-ess 
in their studies under her. And then she was 
studious, too. Why, she acquired three languages 
while she was in school, both as a student and a 
teacher, and she spoke them well, I am told. They 
were married shortly after he came back from 
Williams, and I forgot to tell you a nice little 
thing about the time when he paid Dr. Eobinson 
back the money he had spent on him. When 
Dr. Eobinson refused to take the interest, which 
amounted to a snug little sum, Garfield said: 
' Well, Doctor, that is one big point in my favor, 
as now I can get married.' It seems that they 
had been engaged for a long time, but had to wait 
till he could get something to marry on. And I 
tell you it isn't every young man that will let the 
payment of a self-imposed debt stand between 
him and getting married to the girl he loves." 

Without anticipating too far events we have not 
yet reached, it may be said that Lucretia Gar- 
field's education and culture made her not the 



118 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

wife only, but the sympathetic friend and intel- 
lectual helper of her husband. Her early studies 
were of service to her in enabling her partially to 
prepare for college her two oldest boys. She as- 
sisted her husband also in his literary plans, with- 
out losing the domestic character of a good wife, 
and the refining graces of a true woman. 

But let us not forget that James is still a boy 
in his teens. He had many hardships to encoun- 
ter, and many experiences to go through before 
he could set up a home of his own. He had stud- 
ied three years, but his education had only begun. 
The Geauga Seminary was only an academy, and 
hardly the equal of the best academies to be found 
at the East. 

He began to feel that he had about exhausted 
its facilities, and to look higher. He had not far 
to look. 

During the year 1851 the Disciples, the re- 
ligious body to which young Garfield had attached 
himself, opened a collegiate school at Hiram, in 
Port^ige County, which they called an eclectic 
school. ;Now it ranks as a college, but at the time 
James entered it, it had not assumed so ambitious 
a title. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. j^g 

It was not far away, and James' attention was 
naturally drawn to it. There was an ad^rantage 
also in its location. Hiram was a small country 
village, where the expenses of living were small, 
and, as we know, our young student's purse was 
but scantily filled. ISTevertheless, so limited were 
his means that it was a perplexing piK)blem how 
he would be able to pay his way. 

He consulted his mother, and, as was always 
the case, found that she sympathized fully in his 
purpose of obtaining a higher education. Pecu- 
niary help, however, she could not give, nor had 
he at this time any rich friends npon whom he 
could call for the pittance he required. 

But James was not easily daunted. He had 
gone to Geauga Seminary with but seventeen 
dollars in his pocket ; he had remained there three 
years, maintaining himself by work at his old 
trade of carpenter and teaching, and had grad- 
uated owing nothing. He had become self- 
reliant, and felt that what he had done at Chester 
he could do at Hiram. 

So one fine morning he set out, with a light 
heart and a pocket equally light, for the infant 
institution from which he hoped so much. 



320 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

The Board of Trustees were iu session, as we 
learn from the account giyen bj one of their num- 
ber, when James arrived and sought an audience. 
After a little delay, the doorkeeper was in- 
structed to bring him in. 

James was nineteen at this time. He was no 
longer as homespun in appearance as when he sat 
upon a log with Dr. Robinson, in the seclusion of 
the woods, and asked his advice about a career. 
Nevertheless, he was still awkward. He had 
grown rapidly, was of slender build, and had no 
advantages of dress to recommend him. One who 
saw him in after-life, with his noble, imposing- 
presence, would hardly recognize any similarity 
between him and the raw country youth who 
stood awkwardly before the Board of Trustees, to 
plead his cause. It happens not unfrequently 
that a lanky youth develops into a fine-looking 
man. Charles Sumner, at the age of twenty, 
stood six feet two inches in his stockings, and 
weighed but one hundred and twenty pounds! 
Yet in after-life he was a man of noble presence. 
But all this while we are leaving James in sus- 
pense before the men whose decision is to affect 
his life so powerfully. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. |0i 

"Well, young man," asked the Principal, 
" what can we do for jou ? " 

" Gentlemen," said James, earnestly, " I want 
an education, and would like the privilege of 
making the fires and sweeping the floors of the 
building to pay part of my expenses." 

There was in his bearing and countenance an 
earnestness and an intelligence which impressed 
the members of the board. 

" Gentlemen," said Mr. Frederic WiUiams, one 
of the trustees, "I think we had better try this 
young man." 

Another member, turning to Garfield, said: 
"How do we know, young man, that the work 
will be done as we may desire ? " 

"Try me," was the answer; ''try me two 
weeks, and if it is not done to your entire satis- 
faction, I will retire without a word." 

"That seems satisfactory," said the member 
who had asked the question. 

" What studies do you wish to pursue ? " asked 
one gentleman. 

" I want to prepare for college. I shall wish to 
study Latin, Greek, mathematics, and anything 
else that may be needed." 



122 JAMES A. GARFIELD ^ 

" Have you studied any of these already ? " 

" Yes, sir." 

" Where ? " 

" At the Geauga Seminary. I can refer you to 
the teachers there. I have studied under them 
for three years, and they know all about me." 

" What is your name ? " 

" James A. Garfield." 

" There is something in that young man," said 
one of the trustees to Mr. Williams. "He 
seems thoroughly in earnest, and I believe will 
be a hard worker." 

" I agree with you," was the reply. 

James was informed that his petition was 
granted, and he at once made arrangements for 
Ms residence at Hiram. 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

AT HIRAM INSTITUTE. 

HiKAM, the seat of the Eclectic Institute, was 
not a place of any pretension. It was scarcely a 
\rillage, but rather a hamlet. Yet the advantages 
which the infant institution offered drew together 
a considerable number of pupils of both sexes, 
sons and daughters of the Western Eeserve 
fanners, inspired with a genuine love of learning, 
and too sensible to waste their time on mere 
amusement. 

Tills is the account given of it by President B. 
A. Hinsdale, who for fifteen years has ably 
presided over its affairs : " The institute building, 
a plain but substantially-built brick structure, was 
put on the top of a windy hill, in the middle of a 
cora-field. One of the cannon that General 
Scott's soldiers dragged to the City of Mexico in 
1847, planted on the roof of the new structure, 
would not have commanded a score of farm- 
houses. 

(123) 



J 24 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" Here the school opened at the time Garfield 
was closing his studies at Chester. It had been in 
operation two terms when he offered himself for 
enrollment. Hiram furnished a location, the 
Board of Trustees a hailding and the first 
teacher, the surrounding country students, but 
the spiritual Hiram made itself. Everything was 
new. Society, traditions, the genius of the 
school, had to be evolved from the forces of the 
teachers and pupils, limited by the general and 
local environment. Let no one be surprised when 
I say that such a school as this was the best of all 
places for young Garfield. There was freedom, 
opportunity, a large society of rapidly and 
eagerly opening young minds, instructors who 
were learned enough to instruct him, and abun- 
dant scope for ability and force of character, of 
whicb he had a superabundance. 

" Few of the students who came to Hiram in 
that day had more than a district-school educa- 
tion, though some had attended the high schools 
and academies scattered over the country ; so that 
Garfield, though he had made but slight progress 
in the classics and the higher mathematics pre- 
vious to his arrival, ranked well up with the fii*st 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 125 

scholars. In ability, all acknowledged that he 
was the peer of any ; soon his superiority to all 
others was generally conceded." 

So James entered upon his duties as janitor and 
bell-ringer. It was a humble position for the 
future President of the United States ; but no 
work is humiliating which is undertaken with a 
right aim and a useful object. Of one thing my 
boy-reader may be sure — the duties of the offices 
were satisfactorily performed. The school-rooms 
were well cared for, and the bell was rung 
punctually. This is shown by the fact that, after 
the two weeks of probation, he was still continued 
in office, though doubtless in the large number of 
students of limited means in the institute there 
was more than one that would have been glad to 
relieve him of his office. 

It will hardly be supposed, however, that the 
position of janitor and bell-ringer conld pay all 
his expenses. He had two other resources. In 
term-time he worked at his trade of carpenter as 
opportunity offered, and in the winter, as at 
Chester, he sought some country town where he 
could find employment as a teacher. 

The names of the places where he taught are 



126 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

not known to me, though doubtless there is many 
an Ohio farmer, or mechanic, or, perchance, pro- 
fessional man, who is able to boast that he was 
partially educated by a President of the United 
States. 

As characteristic of his coolness and firmness, I 
am tempted to record an incident which hap- 
pened to him in one of his winter schools. 

There were some scholars about as large as 
himself, to whom obedience to the rules of the 
school was not quite easy — who thought, in con- 
sideration of their age and size, that they might 
venture upon acts which would not be tolerated 
in younger pupils. 

The school had commenced one morning, when 
the young teacher heard angry words and the 
noise of a struggle in the school-yard, which 
chanced to be inclosed. The noise attracted the 
attention of the scholars, and interfered with the 
attention which the recitation required. 

James Garfield stepped quietly outside of the 
door, and saw two of his oldest and largest pupils 
engaged in a wrestling match. For convenience 
we will call them Brown and Jones. 

" What are you about, boys ? " asked the teacher. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. J27 

The two were so earnestly engaged in their 
conflict that neither returned an answer. 

'' This must be stopped immediately," said 
James, decisively. "It is disrespectful to me, 
and distm-bs the recitations." 

He might as well have spoken to the wind. 
They heard, but they continued their fight. 

" This must stop, or I will stop it myself," said 
the teacher. 

The boys were not afraid. Each was about as 
large as the teacher, and they felt that if he inter- 
fered he was likely to get hurt. 

James thought he had given suflScient warn- 
ing. The time had come to act. He stepped 
quickly forward, seized one of the combatants, 
and with a sudden exertion of strength, threw 
him over the fence. Before he had time to re- 
cover from his surprise his companion was lifted 
over in the same manner. 

" Now, go on with your fighting if you wish," 
said the young teacher; ''though I advise you to 
shake hands and make up. When you get through 
come in and report." 

The two young men regarded each other fool- 
ishly. Somehow all desire to fight had been 
taken away. 



128 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" I guess we'll go in now," said Brown. 

"I'm with you," said Jones, and Garfield en- 
tered tlie school-room, meekly followed by the 
two refractory pupils. There was not much use 
in resisting the authority of a teacher who could 
handle them with such ease. 

James did not trouble them with any moral 
lecture. He was too sensible. He felt that all 
had been said and done that was required. 

But how did he spend his time at the new 
seminary, and how was he regarded? Fortu- 
nately we have the testimony of a lady, now re- 
siding in Illinois, who was one of the first stu- 
dents at Hiram. 

'*' When he first entered the school," she writes, 
^'he paid for his schooling by doing janitor's 
work, sweeping the floor and ringing the bell. I 
can see him even now standing in the morning 
with his hand on the beU-rope, ready to give the 
signal, calling teachers and scholars to engage in 
the duties of the day. As we passed by, enter- 
ing the school-room, he had a cheerful word for 
every one. He was probably the most popular 
person in the institution. He was always good- 
natured, fond of conversation, and very enter- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 129 

taining. He was wittj and quick at repartee, but 
his jokes, though brilliant and sparkling, were 
always harmless, and he never would willingly 
hurt another's feelings. 

^'Afterward he became an assistant teacher, 
and while pursuing his classical studies, prepara- 
tory to his college course, he taught the English 
branches. He was a most entertaining teacher — 
ready with illustrations, and possessing in a 
marked degree the power of exciting the interest 
of the scholars, and afterward making clear to 
them the lessons. In the arithmetic class there 
were ninety pupils, and I can not remember a 
time when there was any flagging in the interest. 
There were never any cases of unruly conduct, 
or a disposition to shirk. "With scholars who 
were slow of comprehension, or to whom recita- 
tions were a "burden, on account of their modest 
or retiring dispositions, he was specially attentive, 
and by encouraging words and gentle assistance 
would manage to put all at their ease, and 
awaken in them a confidence in themselves. He 
was not much given to amusements or the sports 
of the play-ground. He was too industrious, and 
too anxious to make the utmost of his opportam*- 
ties to study. 



130 BOYHOOD AND MANROID OF 

" He was a constant attendant at tlie regular 
meetings for praj^er, and his vigorous exhorta- 
tions and apt remarks npon the Bible lessons were 
impressive and interesting. There was a cordial- 
ity in his disposition which won quickly the favor 
and esteem of others. He had a happy habit of 
shaking hands, and would give a hearty grip 
which betokened a kind-hearted feeling for all. 
He was always ready to turn his mind and hands 
in any direction whereby he might add to his 
meagre store of money. 

" One of his gifts was that of mezzotint draw- 
ing, and he gave instruction in this branch. I 
was one of his pupils in this, and have now the 
picture of a cross upon which he did some shad- 
ing and put on the finishing touches. Upon the 
margin is written, in the name of the noted 
teacher, his own name and his pupil^s. There are 
also two other drawings, one of a large European 
bird on the bough of a tree, and the other a 
church yard scene in winter, done by him at that 
time. In those days the faculty and pupils were 
wont to call liim * the second Webster,' and the 
remark was common, ' He will fill the "White 
House yet.' In the Lyceum he early took rank 
far above the others as a speaker and debater 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1^1 

"Durino^ the month of June the entire school 
went in carriages to their annual grove meeting 
at Randolph, some twenty-five miles away. On 
this trip he was the life of the party, occasionally 
bursting out in an eloquent strain at the sight of 
a bird or a trailing vine, or a venerable giant of 
the forest. He would repeat poetry by the hour, 
having a very retentive memory. 

"At the Institute the members were like a 
band of brothers and sisters, all struggling to ad- 
vance in knowledge. Then all dressed plainly, 
and there was no attempt or pretence at dressing 
fashionably or stylishly. Hiram was a little coun- 
try place, with no fascinations or worldly attra(»- 
tions to draw off the minds of the students from 
their work." 

Such is an inside view — more graphic than any 
description I can give — of the life of James Gar- 
field at Hiram Institute. 



CHAPTEE XY. 



THREE BUSY TEAES. 



Among the readers of tbis volume there may be 
boys who are preparing for college. They will 
be interested to learn the extent of James Gar- 
field's scholarship, when he left the Geauga Acad- 
emy, and transferred himself to the Institute at 
Hiram. Though, in his own language, he remem- 
bers with great satisfaction the work which was 
accomplished for him at Chester, that satisfaction 
does not spring from the amount that he had ac- 
quired, but rather that while there he had formed 
a definite purpose and plan to complete a college 
course. For, as the young scholar truly remarks, 
" It is a great point gained when a young man 
makes up his mind to devote several years to the 
accomplishment of a definite work." 

When James entered at Hiram, he had studied 

Latin only six weeks, and just begun Greek. 

He was therefore merely on the threshold of his 
(132) 



JAMES A. OABFIELD. I33 

preparatory course for college. To anticipate a 
little, he completed this course, and litted himself 
to enter the Junior class at Williams College in 
the space of three years. How much labor this 
required many of my readers are qualified to un- 
derstand. It required him to do nearly six years' 
work in three, though interrupted by work of 
various kinds necessary for his support. 

He was not yet able to live luxuriously, or 
even, as we suppose, comfortably. He occupied a 
room with four other students, which could hardly 
have been favorable for study. Yet, in the first 
term he completed six books of Csesar's commen- 
caries, and made good progress in Greek. During 
the first winter he taught a school at Warrensville, 
receiving tlie highest salary he had yet been paid, 
eighteen dollars a month — of course in addition to 
board. 

At the commencement of the second year the 
president sent for him. 

James obeyed the summons, wondering whether 
he was to receive any reprimand for duty unful- 
ailed. 

President Hayden received him cordially, thus 
dissipating his apprehensions. 



134 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" Garfield," he said, " Mr. , tutor in En- 
glish and ancient languages, is sick, and it is doubt- 
ful whether he will be able to resume his duties. 
Do you think jou can fill his place, besides carry- 
ing on your own work as student ? " 

Young Garfield's face flushed with pleasure. 
The compliment was unexpected, but in every 
way the prospect it opened was an agreeable one. 
His only doubt was as to his qualifications. 

" I should like it very much," he said, " if you 
tliink I am qualified." 

"I have no doubt on that point. You will 
teach only what is familiar to you, and I beheve 
you have a special faculty for imparting knowl- 
edge." 

" Thank you very much, Mr. Hayden," said 
Garfield. " I will accept with gratitude, and I will 
do my best to give satisfaction." 

How well he discharged his office may be in- 
ferred from the testimony given in the last chap- 
ter. 

Though a part of his time was taken up in 
teaching others, he did not allow it to delay his 
own progress. Still before hun he kept the bright 
beacon of a college education. He had put his 



JAMES A. QARFIELI). 135 

hand to the plow, and he was not one to turn 
back or loiter on the way. That term he began 
Xenophon's Anabasis, and was fortunate enough 
to find a home in the president's family. 

But he was not content with working in term- 
time. When the summer brought a vacation, he 
felt that it was too long a time to be lost. He in- 
duced ten students to join him, and hired Pro- 
fessor Dunshee to give tliem lessons for one 
month. During that time he read the Eclogues 
and Georgics of \^irgil entire, and the first six 
books of Homer's Hiad, accompanied by a thor- 
ough drill in the Latin and Greek grammar. He 
must have " toiled terribly," and could have had 
few moments for recreation. When the fall term 
commenced, in company with Miss Almeda 
Booth, a mature young lady of remarkable intel- 
lect, and some other students, he formed a Trans- 
lation society, which occupied itself with the Book 
of Romans, of course in the Greek version. During 
the succeeding winter he read the whole of " De- 
mosthenes on the Crown." 

The mental activity of the young man (he was 
now twenty) seems exhaustless. All this time he 
took an active part in a literary society composed 



136 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

of some of his fellew-students. He had ah^eady 
become an easy, fluent, and forcible speaker — a 
very necessary qualification for the great work of 
his life. 

" Oh, I suppose he had a talent for it," some of 
my young readers may say. 

Probably he had ; indeed, it is certain that he 
had, but it may encourage them to learn that he 
found difiiculties at the start. When a student 
at Geauga, he made his first public speech. It 
was a six minutes' oration at the annual exhibition, 
delivered in connection with a literary society to 
which he belonged. He records in a diary kept 
at the time that he " was very much scared," and 
** very glad of a short curtain across the platform 
that hid my shaking legs from the audience." 
Such experiences are not uncommon in the career 
of men afterward noted for their ease in public 
speaking. . I can recall such, and so doubtless can 
any man of academic or college training. I wish 
to impress upon my young reader that Garfield 
was indebted for what he became to earnest work. 

While upon the subject of public speaking I am 
naturally led to speak of young Garfield's relig- 
ious associations. His mind has already been im- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ;I37 

pressed with the importance of the reh'gious ele- 
ment, and he felt that no life would be complete 
without it. He had joined the Church of the Dis- 
ciples, the same to which his uncle belonged, and 
was baptized in a little stream that runs into the 
Chagrin River. The creed of this class of relig- 
ious believers is one likely to commend itself in 
most respects to the general company of Chris- 
tians; but as this volume is designed to steer 
clear of sect or party, I do not hold any further 
reference to it necessary. What concerns us more 
is, that young Garfield, in accordance with the 
liberal usages of the Disciples, was invited on fre- 
quent occasions to officiate as a lay preacher in the 
absence of the regular pastor of the Cliurch of the 
Disciples at Hiram. 

Though often officiating as a preacher, I do not 
find that young Garfield ever had the ministry 
in view. On the other hand, he early formed the 
design of studying for the legal profession, as he 
gradually did, being admitted to the bar of Cuy- 
ahoga County, in 1860, when himself president of 
Hiram College. 

So passed three busy and happy years. Y"oung 
Garfield had but few idle moments. In teaching 



138 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

otliers, in pursuing his own education, in taking 
part in the work of the literary society, and in 
Sunday exhortations, his time was well tilled up. 
But neither his religion nor his love of study made 
him less companionable. He was wonderfully 
popular. His hearty grasp of the hand, his genial 
manner, his entire freedom from conceit, his read- 
iness to help others, made him a general favorite. 
Some young men, calling themselves religious, 
assume a sanctimonious manner, that repels, but 
James Garfield never was troubled in this way. 
He believed that 

"Religion never was designed 
To make our pleasures less," 

and was always ready to take part in social pleas- 
ures, provided they did not interfere with his 
work. 

And all this while, with all his homely sur- 
roundings, he had high thoughts for company. 
He wrote to a student, afterward his own suc- 
cessor to the presidency, words that truly describe 
his own aspirations and habits of mind. " Tell 
me, Burke, do you not feel a spirit stirring within 
you that longs to hiow, to do, and to dare, to hold 



JAMES A. QARFIELD. J 39 

converse with tlie great world of thought, and 
hold before you some high and noble object to 
which the vigor of your mind and the strength 
of your arm may be given ? Do you not have 
longings like these which you breathe to no one, 
and wliich you feel must be heeded, or you will 
pass through life unsatisfied and regretful ? I am 
sure you have them, and they will forever cling 
round your heart till you obey their mandate." 

The time had come when James was ready to 
take another step upward. The district school 
had been succeeded by Geauga Seminary, that by 
Hiram Institute, and now he looked Eastward for 
still higher educational privileges. There was a 
college of his own sect at Bethany, not far away, 
but the young man was not so blinded by this 
consideration as not to understand that it was not 
equal to some of the best known colleges at the 
East. 

"Which should he select ? 

He wrote to the presidents of Brown Univer- 
sity, Yale, and Williams, stating how far he had 
advanced, and inquiring how long it would take 
to complete their course. 

From all he received answers, but the one from 



240 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

President Hopkins, of Williams College, ended 
witli the sentence, " If you come here, we shall be 
glad to do what we can for you." This sentence, 
so fnendly and cordial, decided the young man, 
who otherwise would have found it hard to choose 
between the three institutions. 

" My mind is made up," he said. " I shall start 
for "Wilhams College next week." 

He was influenced also by what he already 
knew of Dr. Hopkins. He was not a stranger to 
the high character of his intellect, and his theo- 
logical reputation. He felt that here was a man 
of high rank in letters who was prepared to be not 
only his teacher and guide, but his personal friend, 
and for this, if for no other reason, he decided in 
favor of Williams College. To a young man cii'- 
cumstanced as he was, a word of friendly sympathy 
meant much. 



CHAPTEE X VL 

ENTEEING WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 

James Gaefield had i-eached the mature asre 
of twenty-two years when he made his first en- 
trance into Williamstown. He did not come 
quite empty-handed. He had paid his expenses 
while at Hiram, and earned three hundred and 
fifty dollars besides, which he estimated would 
carry him through the Junior year. He was tall 
and slender, with a great shock of light hair, 
rising nearly erect from a broad, high forehead. 
His face was open, kindly, and thoughtful, and it 
did not require keen perception of character to 
discern something above the common in the 
awkward Western youth, in his decidedly shabby 
raiment. 

Young Garfield would probably have enjoyed 

the novel sensation of being well dressed, but he. 

had never had the opportunity of knowing how it 

seemed. That ease and polish of manner which 

(141) 



142 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

come from mingling in society he gntirely lacked. 
He was as. yet a rough diamond, but a diamond 
for all that. 

Amono^ his classmates were men from the cities, 
who stared in imdisguised amazement at the tall, 
lanky young man who knocked at the doors of 
the college for admission. 

" Who is that rough-looking fellow ? " asked a 
member of a lower class, pointing out (xarfield, as 
he was crossing the college campus. 

" Oh, that is Garfield ; he comes from the 
Western Eeserve." 

" I suppose his clothes were made by a Western 
Reserve tailor." 

" Probably," answered his classmate, smiling. 

" He looks like a confirmed rustic." 

" That is true, but there is something in him. 
I am in his division, and I can tell you that he 
has plenty of talent." 

" His head is big enough." 

"Yes, he has a large brain — a sort of Web- 
sterian intellect. He is bound to be heard of." 

" It is a pity he is so awkward." 

" Oh, that will wear off. He has a hearty, 
cordial way with him, and though at first we 



JAMES A. OARFIELD. 



U3 



vere disposed to laugh at him, we begin to like 
him." 

"Pie's as old as the hills. At any rate, he 
looks so." 

" How old are you ? " 

" Seventeen." 

" Compared with jou he is, for he is nearly 
twenty-three. However, it is never too late to 
learn. He is not only a good scholar, but he is 
very athletic, and there are few in college who 
can equal him in athletic sports." 

"Why didn't he come to college before ? What 
made him wait till he was an old man ? " 

" I understand that he has had a hard struggle 
with poverty. All the money he has he earned 
by hard labor. Dr. Hopkins seems to have takea 
a liking to him. I saw him walking with the 
doctor the other day." 

This conversation describes pretty accurately 
the impression made by Garfield upon his class- 
mates, and by those in other classes who became 
acquainted with him. At first they were dis- 
posed to laugh at the tall, awkward young man 
and his manners, but soon his real ability, and his 
cordial, socia-l ways won upon all, and he was in- 



144 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

stalled as a favorite. The bovs began to call him 
Old Gar, and regarded him with friendship and 
increasing respect, as he grew and developed 
intellectually, and they began to see what manner 
cf jnan he was. 

Perhaps the readiest way for a collegian to 
make an impression upon his associates is to show 
a decided talent for oratory. They soon discov- 
ered at Williams that Garfield had peculiar gifts 
in this way. His speaking at clubs, and before 
the church of his communion in Hiram, had been 
for him a valuable training. He joined a society, 
and soon had an opportunity of showing that he 
was a ready and forcible speaker. 

One day there came startling news to the 
college. Charles Sumner had been struck down 
in the Senate chamber by Preston S. Brooks, of 
South Carolina, for words spoken in debate. The 
hearts of the students throbbed with indignation — 
none more fiercely than young Garfield's. At an 
indignation meeting convened by the students he 
rose and delivered, so says one who heard him, 
" one of the most impassioned and eloquent 
speeches ever delivered in old Williams." 

It made a sensation. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 



145 



'* Did you hear Old Gar's speech at the meet- 
ing ? " asked one of another. 

" jSTo, I did not get in in time." 

" It was great. I never heard him speak better. 
Do you know what I think ? " 

"Well?" 

"Gar will be in Congress some day himself. 
He has rare powers of debate, and is a born 
orator." 

" I shouldn't wonder myself if you were right. 
If he ever reaches Congress he will do credit to 
old Williams." 

James had given up his trade as a carpenter. 
He was no longer obliged to resort to it, or, at 
any rate, he preferred to earn money in a dif- 
ferent way. So one winter he taught penmanship 
at I^orth Pownal, in Yermont, a post for which 
he was qualified, for he had a strong, bold, hand- 
some hand. 

" Did you know Mr. Arthur, who taught school 
here last winter ? " asked one of his writing pupils 
of young Garfield. 

" No ; he was not a student of Williams." 

" He graduated at Union College, I believe." 

" Was he a good teacher ? " 



146 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

"Yes, he was very successful, keeping order 
without any trouble, though the school is consid- 
ered a hard one." 

This was Chester A. Arthur, whose name in 
after years was to be associated with that of the 
writing-teacher, who was occupying ths same 
room as his Presidential successor. But to 
James Garfield, at that time, the name meant 
nothing, and it never occurred to him what high 
plans Providence had for them both. It was one 
of those remarkable cases in which the paths of 
two men who are joined in destiny traverse each 
other. Was it not strange that two future occu- 
pants of the Presidential chair should be found 
teaching in the same school-room, in an obscure 
Yermont village, two successive winters ? 

As the reader, though this is the biography of 
Garfield, may feel a curiosity to leam what sort 
of a teacher Arthur was, I shall, without apology, 
n conclude this chapter with the story of a pupil of 
his who, in the year 1853, attended the district 
school at Cohoes, then taught by Chester A. 
Arthur. I find it in the Troy Times : 

"• In tlie year 1853 tlie writer attended the 
district school at Cohoes. The high department 



JAMES A. OAEFIELD. j^y 

did not enjoj a very enviable reputation for being 
possessed of that respect due from the pupils to 
teaclier. During the year there had been at least 
four teachers in that department, the last one only 
remaining one week. The Board of Education 
had found it difficult to obtain a pedagogue to 
take charge of the school, until a young man, 
slender as a May-pole and six feet high in his 
stockings, applied for the place. He was engaged 
at once, although he was previously informed of 
the kind of timber he would be obliged to hew. 

" Promptly at nine o'clock a.m. every scholar 
was on hand to welcome the man who had said 
that he would ' conquer the school or forfeit hi<3 
reputation.' Having called the morning sessior. 
to order, he said that he had been engaged to take 
charge of the school. He came with his mind 
prejudiced against the place. He had heard of 
the treatment of the former teachers by the 
pupils, yet he was not at all embarrassed, for he 
felt that, with the proper recognition of each 
other's rights, teacher and scholars could live to- 
gether in harmony. He did not intend to 
threaten, but he intended to make the scholars 
obey him, and would try and win the good-will of 



148 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

all present. He had been engaged to take charge 
of that room, and he wished the co-operation of 
every pupil in so doing. He had no club, 
ruler, or whip, but appealed directly to the hearts 
of every young man and young lady in the room. 
Whatever he should do, he would at least show 
to the people of this place that this school could 
be governed. He spoke thus and feelingly at 
times, yet with perfect dignity he displayed that 
executive ability which in after years made him 
such a prominent man. Of course the people, 
especially the boys, had heard fine words spoken 
before, and at once a little smile seemed to flit 
across the faces of the leading spirits in past re- 
bellions. 

" The work of the forenoon began, when a lad 
of sixteen placed a marble between his thumb and 
finger, and, with a snap, sent it rolling across the 
floor. As the tall and handsome teacher saw this 
act, lie arose from his seat, and, without a word, 
walked toward the lad. 

" ^ Get up, sir,' he said. 

** The lad looked at him to see if he was in 
eanicst ; then lie cast his eyes toward the large boys 
to see if they were not going to take up his defense. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. -j^^q 

" ' Get up, sir,' said the teacher a second time, 
and he took him bj tl^e collar of his jacket as if 
to raise him. The lad saw he had no common 
man to deal with, and he rose from his seat. 

" ' Follow me, sir,' calmly spoke the teacher, 
and he led the way toward the hall, while the 
boy began to tremble, wondering if the new 
teacher was going to take him out and kill him. 
The primary department was presided over by a 
sister of the new teacher, and into this room he 
led the young transgressor. 

" Turning to his sister he said : 'I have a pupil 
for you ; select a seat for him, and let him remain 
here. If he makes any disturbance whatever, 
inform me.' Turning to the boy he said : ' Young 
man, mind your teacher, and do not leave your 
seat until I give permission,' and he was gone. 

" The lad sat there, feehng very sheepish, and 
as misery loves company, it was not long before 
he was gratified to see the door open and observe 
his seat-mate enter with the new teacher, who re- 
peated the previous orders, when he quietly and 
with dignity withdrew. 

'' The number was subsequently increased to 
three, the teacher returning each time without a 



150 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 



word to the otlier scholars concerning the disposi- 
tion made of the refractory lads. The effect upon 
the rest of the school was remarkable. As no 
int.mation of the disposition of the boys ^Ya3 
given, not a shade of anger displayed on the 
comitenance of the new teacher, nor any appear- 
ances of blood were noticeable upon his hands, 
speculation was rife as to what he had done with 
the three chaps. He spoke kindly to all, smiled 
upon the scholars who did well in their classes, 
and seemed to inspire all present with the truth 
of his remarks uttered at the opening of the 
session. 

'* At recess the mystery that had enveloped the 
school was cleared away, for the three lads in the 
primary department were seen as the rest of the 
scholars filed by the door. While all the rest en- 
joyed the recess, the three lads were obliged to 
remain in their seats, and when school was dis- 
missed for the forenoon, the new teacher entered 
the primary-room, and was alone with the young 
offenders. He sat down by them, and like a 
father talked kindly and gave good advice, No 
parent ever used more fitting words nor more im- 
pressed his offspring with the fitness thereof than 



JAMES A. GARFIELD I5J 

did the new teacher. Dismissing tliem, lie told 
them to go home, and when thej returned to 
school to be good boys. 

" That afternoon the boys were in their seats, 
and in two weeks' time there was not a scholar in 
the room who would not do anything the teacher 
asked. He was beloved by all, and his quiet 
manner and cool, dignified ways made him a great 
favorite. He only taught two terms, and every 
reasonable inducement was offered to prevail 
upon him to remain, but without avail. His 
reply was : 'I have accomplished all I intended, 
namely, conquered what you thought was a wild 
lot of boys, and received the discipline that I re- 
quired. I regret leaving my charge, for I have 
learned to love them, but I am to enter a law 
ofiice at once.' 

"That teacher was Chester A. Arthur, now 
President of the United States; the teacher of 
the primary department was his sister, now Mrs. 
Haynesworth, and the first of the three refractory 
boys was the writer. When it was announced 
that our beloved teacher was to leave us, many 
tears were shed by his scholars, and as a slight 
token of our love, we presented hun with an 
elegant volume of poems." 



CHAPTER XVII. 



LIFE m COLLEGE. 



Probably young Garfield never passed two 
happier or more profitable years than at Williams 
College. The Seminaries he had hitherto at- 
tended were respectable, but in the nature of 
things they could not afford the facilities which 
he now enjoyed. Despite his years of study and 
struggle there were many things in which he was 
wholly deficient. He had studied Latin, Greek, 
and mathematics, but of English literature he knew 
but little. He had never had time to read for 
recreation, or for that higher culture which is not 
to be learned in the class-room. 

In the library of Williams College he made 
bis tirst acquaintance with Shakespeare, and we 
can imderstand what a revelation his %vorks must 
have been to the aspiring youth. He had ab- 
stained from reading fiction, doubting whether it 

was profitable, since the early days when with a 
(152) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 153 

thrill of boyish excitement he read " Sinbad the 

Sailor" and Manyatt's novels. After a while his 

views as to the utility of fiction changed. He 

found that his mind was suffering from the solid 

food to which it was restricted, and he began to 

make incursions into the realm of poetry and 

fiction with excellent results. He usually limited 

this kind of reading, and did not neglect for the 

fascination of romance those more solid works 

which should form the staple of a young man's 

reading. 

It is well known that among poets Tennyson 

was his favorite, so that in after years, when at 

fifteen minutes' notice, on the first anniversary of 

Lincoln's assassination, he was called upon to 

move an adjournment of the House, as a mark 

of respect to the martyred President, he was able 

from memory to quote in his brief speech, as 

applicable to Lincoln, the poet's description of 

some 

"Divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began, 
And on a simple village green. 

Who breaks his birth's invidious bars, 
And grasped the skirts of happy chance, 
And breasts the blows of circumstance, 
And grapples with his evil stars ; 



154 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Who makes ]>y force his merit known, 
And lives to clutch the golden keys 
To mould a mighty state's decrees, 

And shape the whisper of the throne; 

And moving up from high to higher, 
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope 
The pillar of a people's hope, 

The center of a world's desire." 

I am only repeating the remark made bj many 
when I call attention to the fitness of this de- 
scription to Garfield himseK. 

Our young student was fortunate in possessing 
a most retentive memory. What he liked, es- 
pecially in the works of his favorite poet, was so 
impressed upon his memory that he could recite 
extracts by the hour. This will enable the reader 
to understand how thoroughly he studied, and 
how readily he mastered, those branches of knowl- 
edge to which his attention was drawn. When 
in after years in Congress some great public ques- 
tion came up, which required hard study, it was 
the custom of his party fi-iends to leave Garfield 
to study it, witli the knowledge that in due time 
he would be realy with a luminous exposition 
which would supply to them the place of individ- 
ual study. 

Young Garfield was anxious to learn the Ian- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



155 



guage of Goethe and Schiller, and embraced the 
opportunity aiforded at oallege to enter upon the 
study of German. He was not content with a 
mere smattering, but learned it well enough to 
converse in it as well as to read it. 

So most profitably the Junior year was spent, 
but unhappily James had spent all the money 
which he had brought with him. Should he leave 
college to earn more ? Fortunately, this was not 
necessary. Thomas Garfield, always unselfishly 
devoted to the family, hoped to supply his 
younger brother with the necessary sum, in in- 
stallments; but proving unable, his old friend, 
Dr. "Robinson, came to his assistance. 

" You can pay me when you are able, James," 
he said. 

"If 1 live I will pay you, doctor. If I do 
not " 

He paused, for an idea struck him. 

"I will insure my life for eight hundred 
dollars," he continued, " and place the policy in 
your hands. Then, v/hether I live or die, you 
will be secure." 

" I do not require this^, James," said the doctor, 
kindly. 



156 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 



" Then I feel all the more under obligations to 
secure you in return for your generous confi- 
dence." 

It was a sensible and business-like proposal, 
and the doctor assented. The strong, vigorous 
young man had no difficulty in securing a policy 
from a reputable company, and went back to 
college at the commencement of the Senior year. 
I wish to add that the young man scrupulously 
repaid the good doctor's timely loan, for had he 
failed to do so, I could not have held him up to 
my young readers as in all respects a model. 

There was published at Williams College, in 
Garfield's time, a magazine called the Williams 
Quarterly. To this the young man became a 
frequent contributor. In Gen. James S. Brisbin's 
campaign Life of Garfield, I find three of his 
poetic contributions quoted, two of which I will 
also transfer to my pages, as likely to possess 
some interest for my young reader. The first ia 
called 

^'THE CHARGE OF THE TIGHT BRIGADE," 
and commences thus : 

*' Bottles to right of them, 
Bottles to left of them, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. J 57 

Bottles in front of tliem, 

Fizzled and sundered; 
Ent'riug with shout and yell, 
Boldly they drank and well, 
They caught the Tartar then ; 
Oh^ ivhat a perfect sell ! 

Sold— the half hundred ! 
Grinned all the dentals bare, 
Swung all their caps in air. 
Uncorking bottles there, 
Watching the Freshmen, while 

Every one wondered ; 
Plunged in tobacco smoke, 
With many a desperate stroke. 
Dozens of bottles broke ; 
Then they came back, but not, 

Not the half hundred!" 

Lest from this merry squib, which doubtless 
celebrated some college prank, wrong conckisions 
should be drawn, I hasten to say that in college 
James Garfield neither drank nor smoked. 

The next poem is rather long, but it possesses 
interest as a serious production of one whose 
name has become a household word. It is 

entitled 

"MEMORY. 

** 'Tis beauteous night; the stars look brightly down 
Upon the earth, decked in her robe of snow. 
No light gleams at the window save my own, 
Which gives its cheer to midnight and to me. 



258 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

And now with noiseless step sweet Memory comes, 

And leads me gently througli her twilight realms. 

What poet's tuneful lyre has ever sung, 

Or delicatest pencil e'er portrayed 

The enchanted, shadowy land where Memory 

dwells ? 
It has its valleys, cheerless, lone, and drear. 
Dark-shaded by the lonely cypress tree. 
And yet its sunlit mountain tops are bathed 
In heaven's own blue. Upon its craggy cliffs. 
Robed in the dreamy light of distant years, 
Are clustered joys serene of other days; 
Upon its gently sloping hillside's bank 
The weeping-willows o'er the sacred dust 
Of dear departed ones; and yet in that land. 
Where'er our footsteps fall upon the shore, 
They that were sleeping rise from out the dust 
Of death's long, silent years, and round us stand, 
As erst they did before the prison tomb 
Received their clay within its voiceless halls. 

** The heavens that bend above that land are hung 
With clouds of various hues; some dark and chill, 
Surcharged with sorrow, cast their sombre shade 
Upon the sunny, joyous land below; 
Others are floating through the dreamy air, 
White as the falling snow, their margins tinged 
With gold and crimson hues; their shadows fall 
Upon the flowery meads and sunny slopes, 
"Soft as the shadows of an angel's wing. 
Wlien the rough battle of the day is done, 
And evening's peace falls gently on the heart, 
I bound away across the noisy years. 
Unto the utmost verge of Memory's land, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ] 59 

Where earth and sky in dreamy distance meet, 

And Memory dim witli dark oblivion joins; 

Where woke the first remembered sounds that fell 

Upon the ear in childhood's early morn ; 

And wandering thence along the rolling years, 

I see the shadow of my former self 

GUding from childhood up to man's estate. 

The path of youth winds down through many a 

vale. 
And on the brink of many a dread abyss, 
From out whose darkness comes no ray of light, 
Save that a phantom dances o'er the gulf, 
And beckons toward the verge. Again, the path 
Leads o'er a summit where the sunbeams fall; 
And thus, in light and shade, sunshine and gloom. 
Sorrow and joy, this life-path leads along." 

During the year 1856 young Garfield was one 
of the editors of the college magazine, from which 
the above extracts are made. The hours spent 
upon his contributions to its pages were doubtless 
well spent. Here, to use his own words, he 
learned " to hurl the lance and wield the swoi 
and thus prepare for the conflict of life." Moi 
than one whose names have since become con- 
spicuous contributed to it while under his charge. 
Among these were Professor Chadbourne, S. G- 
W. Benjamin, Horace E. Scudder, W. E. Dim- 
mock, and John Savarj. The last-named, now 
resident in Washington, has printed, since his 



160 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

old friend's death, a series of sonnets, from wliich 
I quote one : 

" How many and how great concerns of state 
Lie at the mercy of the meanest things! 
This man, the peer of presidents and kings; 

Nay, first among them, passed through danger's gate 

In war unscathed, and perils out of date, 

To meet a fool whose pistol-shot yet rings 
Around the world, and at mere greatness flings 

The cruel sneer of destiny or fate ! 

Yet hath he made the fool fanatic foil 

To valor, patience, nobleness, and wit ! 
Nor had the world known, but because of it, 

Wliat virtues grow in suffering's sacred soil. 
The shot which opened like a crack of hell, 
Made all hearts stream with sacred pity's wellj 
And showed that unity in which we dwelL*' 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

THE CANAL-BOY BECOMES A COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 

DuKENO his second winter vacation a great 
temptation assailed James. It was not a tempta- 
tion to do wrong. That he could easily have 
resisted. 

1 must explain. 

At Prestenkiil, a country village six miles from 
Troy, ]^. Y,, the young student organized 
a writing school, to help defray his expenses. 
Having occasion to visit Troy, his interest in edu- 
cation led him to form an acquaintance with some 
of the teachers and directors of the public schools. 

One of these gentlemen, while walking with 
him over the sloping sides of a hill overlooking 
the city, said : " Mr. Gariield, I have a proposi- 
tion to make to you." 

The student listened with interest. 

" There is a vacancy in one of our public 

schools. We want an experienced teacher, and I 
II (161) 



162 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

am sure jou will suit us. I offer you the place, 
with a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year. 
"What do you say ? " 

The young man's heart beat for a moment with 
irrepressible excitement. It was a strong tempta- 
tion. He was offered, deducting vacation s^ about 
one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month, 
while heretofore his highest wages had been but 
eighteen dollars per month and board. Moreover^ 
he could marry at once the young lady to whom 
he had been for years engaged. 

He considered the offer a moment, and this was 
his answer : 

" You are not Satan and I am not Jesus, but we 
are upon the mountain, and you have tempted me 
powerfully. I think I must say, ' Get thee be- 
hind me ! ' I am pooi', and the salary would soon 
pay my debts and place me in a position of inde- 
pendence ; but there are two objections. I could 
not accomplish my resolution to complete a 
college course, and' should be cnppled intel- 
lectually for life. Then, my roots are all fixed in 
Ohio, where people know me and I know them, 
and this transplanting might not succeed as well 
in the long run as to go back home and work for 
smaller pay." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. \Q^ 

So the young man decided adversely, and it 
looks as if his decision was a wise one. It is 
interesting to conjecture what would have been 
his future position had he left college and accepted 
the school then offered him. He might still have 
been a teacher, well known and of high repute, 
but of fame merely local, and without a thought 
of the brilliant destiny he had foregone. 

So he went back to college, and in the summer 
of 1856 he graduated, carrying oif the highest 
honor — the metaphysical oration. His class was 
a brilliant one. Three became general officers 
during the rebellion — Garfield, Daviess, and 
Thompson. Eockwell's name is well known in 
official circles ; Gilfillan is Treasurer of the United 
States. There are others who fill prominent 
positions. In the class above him was the late 
Hon. Phineas W. Hitchcock, who for six years 
represented Nebraska in the United States 
Senate — like Garfield, the architect of his own 
fortunes. 

" What are your plans, Garfield ? " asked a class- 
mate but a short time before graduation. 

"I am going back to Ohio, to teach in the 
school where I prepared for college." 



154: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" What is the name of the school ? " 

" Hiram Institute." 

" I never heard of it." 

" It has only a local reputation." 

" Will you get a high salary ? " 

"" No ; the institute is poor, and can pay me but 
little." 

*' I think you are making a mistake." 

''Why so?" 

"You are our best scholar, and no one can 
rival you in speaking in the societies. You 
should study law, and then go to one of our large 
cities and build up a reputation, instead of bury- 
ing yourself in an out-of-the-way Ohio town, 
where you may live and die without the world 
hearing of you." 

'' Thank you for your good opinion of me. I 
am not sure whether I deserve it, but if I do, I 
shall come to the surface some day. Meanwhile, 
to this humble school (it was not yet. a college) I 
owe a large debt of gratitude. I am under a 
promise to go back and do what I can to pay tliat 
debt." 

" In doing so you may sacnfi(;e your own 
prospects." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1(55 

'^ I hope not. At any rate, m j mind is made 
up." 

" Oh, well, in that case I will say no more. I 
know that if your mind is made up, you are 
bound to go. Only, years hence you will think of 
my warning." 

" At any rate," said Garfield, cordially, " I 
shall bear in mind the interest you have shown in 
me. You may be right — I admit that — but I 
feel that it is my duty to go." 

I doubt whether any man of great powers can 
permanently bury himself, no matter how obscure 
the position which he chooses. Sooner or later 
the world will find him out, and he will be lifted 
to his rightful place. When General Grant occu- 
pied a desk in the office of a lawyer in St. Louis, 
and made a precarious living by collecting bills, it 
didn't look as if Fame had a niche for him ; but 
occasion came, and lifted him to distinction. So 
1 must confess that the young graduate seemed 
to be making a mistake when, turning his back 
upon Williams College, he sought the humble 
injstitution where he had taught, as a pupil-teacher, 
two years before, and occupied a place as in- 
structor, with an humble salary. But even here 



J6f5 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

there was promotion for him. A year later, at 
the age of twenty-six, he was made president of 
the institution. It was not, perhaps, a lofty posi- 
tion, for though Hiram Institute now became 
Hiram College, it was not a college in the Kew 
England sense, but rather a superior academy. 

Let ns pause a minute and see what changes 
have taken place in ten years. 

At the age of sixteen Jimmy Garfield was glad 
to get a chance to drive a couple of mnles on the 
tow-path of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal. 
The ragged, homespun boy had disappeared. In 
his place Ave find James A. G-arfield, A.B., presi- 
dent of a Western college — a man of education 
and culture. And how has this change been 
brought about ? By energy, perseverance, and a 
resolute purpose — a soul that poverty could not 
daunt, an ambition which shrank from no hard- 
ship, and no amount of labor. They have been 
years of toil, for it takes time to transform a raw 
and ignorant country lad into a college president ; 
but the toil has not harmed him — the poverty has 
not cramped him, nor crippled his energies. 
" Poverty is very inconvenient," he said on one 
occasion, in speaking of those early years, " but it 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



167 



IS a fine spur to activity, and may be made a rich 
blessing." 

The young man now had an assured income ; 
not a large one, but Hiram was but an humble 
callage. E"o fashionable people lived there. 
The people were plain in their tastes, and he 
could live as well as the best without difficulty. 
He was employed in a way that interested and 
pleased him, and but one thing seemed wanting. 
His heaii had never swerved from the young lady 
with whom be first became acquainted at Geauga, 
to whom he was more closely drawn at Hiram, 
and to whom now for some years he had been be- 
trothed. He felt that he could now afford to be 
married ; and so Lucretia Eudolph became Mrs. 
Gai-field — a name loved and honored, for her sake 
as well as his, throughout the length and breadth 
of our land. She, too, had been busily and use- 
fully employed in these intervening years. As 
Mr. Philo Chamberlain, of Cleveland, has told us 
elsewhere, she has been a useful and efficient 
teacher in one of the public schools of that city. 
She has not been content with instructing others, 
but in her hours of leisure has pursued a private 
course of study, by which her mind has been 



1(58 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

broadened and deepened. If some prophetic 
instinct had acquainted her with the high position 
Avhich the future had in store for her, she could 
have taken no fitter course to prepare herself to 
fulfil with credit the duties which, twenty years 
after, were to devolve upon her as the wife of the 
Chief Magistrate of the Union. 

This was the wife that Garfield selected, and 
he found her indeed a helper and a sympathizer 
in all his sorrows and joys. She has proved 
equal to any position to which the rising fame of 
her husband lifted her. Less than a year ago her 
husband said of her : " I have been wonderfully 
blessed in the discretion of my wife. She is one 
of the coolest and best-balanced women I ever 
saw. She is unstampedable. There has not been 
one solitary instance in my public career when I 
suffered in the smallest degree for any remark 
she ever made. It would have been perfectly 
natural for a woman often to say something that 
could be misinterpreted; but, without any design, 
and with the intelligence and coolness of her 
character, she has never made the slightest mis- 
take that I ever heard of. With the competition 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



169 



that has been against me, such discretion has been 
a real blessing." 

Public men who have risen from humble be- 
ginnings often suffer from the mistakes of wives 
who have remained stationary, and are unfitted 
to sympathize with them in the larger life of their 
husbands. But as James A. Garfield grew in the 
public esteem, and honors crowded upon him, 
step by step his wife kept pace with him, and 
was at all times a fitting and sympathetic com- 
panion and helpmeet. 

They commenced housekeeping in a neat little 
cottage fronting the college campus ; and so their 
wedded life began. It was a modest home, but a 
happy- one, and doubtless both enjoyed more 
happy hours than in the White House, even had 
the last sorrowful tragedy never been enacted. 
As President, James A. Garfield belonged to the 
nation; as the head of Hiram College, to his 
family. Greatness has its penalties, and a low 
estate its compensations. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

GAEFIELD AS A COLLEGE PEESIDEN-T. 

When James Garfield presented himself at 
Hiram, an awkward, overgrown boy of nineteen, 
in his rustic garb, and humbly asked for the posi- 
tion of janitor and bell-ringer, suppose the trus- 
tees had been told, " In seven years your institute 
will have developed into a college, and that boy 
will be the president," we can imagine their 
amazement. 

Yet it had all come true. Kowhere, perhaps, 
but in America could such a thing have happened, 
and even here it seldom happens that such an up- 
ward stride is made in so short a time. 

After all, however, the important question to 

consider is, '' Wliat sort of a college president did 

this humble canal-boy, who counted it promotion 

when he was elected a janitor and bell-ringer, 

become ? " 

For information upon this point, we go to one 
(170) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. \rj\ 

of his pupils, Eev. I. L. Darsie, of Danbury, 
Conn., who writes as follows : 

" I attended the Western Eeserve Institute 
when Garfield was principal, and I recall vividly 
his method of teaching. He took very kindly to 
me, and assisted me in various ways, because I 
was poor, and was janitor of the buildings, and 
swept them out in the morning and built the 
fires, as he had done only six years before, when 
he was a pupil in the same college. He was full 
of animal spirits, and used to run out on the green 
every day and play cricket with his scholars. He 
was a tall, strong man, but dreadfully awkward. 
Every now and then he would get a hit, and he 
muffed his ball and lost his hat as a regular 
thing.* He was left-handed, too, and that made 
him seem all the clumsier. But he was most 
powerful and very quick, and it was easy for us 
to understand how it was that he had acquired the 
reputation of whipping all the other mule-drivers 



* I have seen it somewhere stated that when a 
Congressman at Washington he retained his interest 
in the game of base-ball, and always was in attend- 
ance when it wa» possible, at a game between two 
professional clubs. 



1172 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

on the canal, and of making himself the hero ol 
that thoroughfare, when he followed its tow-path, 
only ten years earlier. 

" No matter how old the pnpils were, Gariield 
always called us by oui' first names, and kept him- 
self on the most intimate terms with alL He 
played with us freely, and we treated him out of 
the class-room just about as we did one another. 
Yet he was a most strict disciplinarian, and en- 
forced the rules like a martinet. He combined 
an affectionate and confiding manner with respect 
for order in a most successful manner. If he 
wanted to speak to a pupil, either for reproof or 
approbation, he would generally manage to get 
one arm around him, and draw him close up to 
him. He had a peculiar way of shaking hands, 
too, giving a twist to your arm, and drawing you 
right up to him. This sympathetic manner has 
helped him to advancement. When I was janitor, 
he used sometimes to stop me, and ask my opinion 
about this and that, as if seriously advising with 
me. I can see now that my opinion could not 
have been of any value, and that he probably 
asked me partly to increase my self-respect and 
partly to show that he felt a^ interest in me. I 
certainly was his friend all the firmer for it. 



JAMES A. OARFIELV. I73 

*'I remember once asking him what was the 
best way to pursue a certain study. 

" ' Use several text-books,' he answered. ' Get 
the views of different authors as you advance. In 
that way you can plow a deeper furrow. I always 
stady in that way.' 

" He tried hard to teach us to observe carefully 
and accurately. He broke out one day in the 
midst of a lesson with, ' Henry, how many posts 
are there under the building down-stairs?' 
Henry expressed his opinion, and the question 
went around the class, hardly any one getting it 
right. Then it was, ' How many boot-scrapers 
are there at the door ? ' * How many windows 
in the building ? ' ' How many trees in the field ? ' 
He was the keenest observer I ever saw. I think 
he noticed and numbered every batton on our 
coats. A friend of mine was walking with him 
through Cleveland one day, when Garfield stopped 
and darted down a cellar-way, asking his com- 
panion to follow, and briefly pausing to explain 
himself. The sign, ' Saws and Files,' was over 
the door, and in the depths was heard a regular 
clicking sound. ' I think this fellow is cutting 
files,' said lie, ' and I have never seen a file cut. 



]74 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OB 

^' Down the J went, and. sure enough, there was 
a man recutting an old file ; and thej stayed ten 
minutes, and found out all about the process. 
Garfield would neA^er go by anything without 
understanding it. 

" Mr. Garfield was very fond of lecturing in 
the school. He spoke two or three times a week, 
on all manner of topics, generally scientific, 
though sometimes literary or historical. He 
spoke with great freedom, never wi'iting out what 
he had to say, and I now think that his lectures 
were a rapid compilation of his cuiTent reading, 
and that he threw it into this form partly for the 
purpose of impressing it uj)on his own mind. 

^' His facility of speech was learned when he 
was a pupil at Hiram. The societies had a rule 
that every student should take his stand on the 
platform and speak for five minutes on any topic 
suggested at the moment by the audience. It was 
a very trying ordeal. Garfield broke down badly 
the first two times he tried to speak, but per- 
sisted, and was at last, when he went to Williams, 
one of the best of the fi\^e-minute speakers. When 
he returned as principal, his readiness was striking 
and remarkable." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



175 



Henry James says : " Garfield taught me more 
than any other man, living or dead, and, proud as 
I am of his record as a soldier and a statesman, I 
can hardly forgive him for abandoning the 
academy and the forum." 

So President Hinsdale, one of Garfield's pupils, 
and his successor as president, testifies : "My real 
acquaintance with Garfield did not begin till the 
fall of 1856, when he returned from Williams 
College. He then found me out, drew near to 
me, and entered into all my troubles and diflicul- 
ties pertaining to questions of the future. In a 
greater or less degree this was true of his relations 
to his pupils generally. There are hundreds of 
these men and women scattered over the world 
to-day, who can not find language strong enough 
to express their feeling in contemplating Garfield 
as their old instructor, adviser, and friend. 

'' Since 1856 my relations with him have been 
as close and confidential as they could be with any 
man, and much closer and more confidential than 
they have been with any other man. I do not 
say that it would be possible for me to know 
anybody better than I know him, and I know that 
lie possesses all the great elements of character in 



176 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 



an extraordinary degree. His interest in hu- 
manity has always been as broad as humanity 
itself, while his lively interest in young men and 
women, especially if they were struggling in nar- 
row circumstances to obtain an education, is a 
characteristic known as widely over the world as 
the footsteps of Hiram boys and girls have 
wandered. 

" The help that he furnished hundreds in the 
way of suggestions, teaching, encouragement, in- 
spiration, and stimulus was most valuable. His 
power over students was not so much that of a 
drill-master, or disciplinarian, as that of one 
who was able to inspire and energize young 
people by his own intellectual and moral force." 

An illustration of the interest he felt in his 
pupils may be given. 

A student came to the president's study at the 
close of a college term to bid him good-bye. After 
the good-bye was said, he lingered, and Garfield 
said : " I suppose you will be back again in the 
fall, Henry?" 

"No," he stammered, "I am not coming back 
to Hiram any more. Father says I have got edu- 
cation enough, and that he needs me to work on 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. I77 

the farm; that education doesn't help a farmer 
along any." 

He was a bright boy — not a prodigy, by any 
means, but one of those strong, awkward, large- 
headed fellows, such as James Gariield had him- 
self been. 

" Is your father here ? " asked the young presi- 
dent, affected by the boy's evident sorrow. 

" Yes, father is here, and is taking my things 
home for good." 

"Well, don't feel badly. Please tell him Mr. 
Garfield would like to see him at his study before 
he leaves the college." 

"Yes, sir, I will" 

In half an hour the father, a sturdy farmer, 
entered the study and awkwardly sat down. 

" So you have come to take Henry home, have 
you ? " asked the president. 

" Yes," answered the farmer. 

"I sent for you because I wanted to have a 
little talk with you about Henry's future. He is 
coming back again in the fall, I hope ? " 

" Wal, I think not. I don't reckon I can afford 
to send him any more. He's got eddication 
enough for a farmer already, and I notice that 
when they git too much, they sorter git lazy 



178 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Yer eddicated farmers are humbugs. Henry's 
got so far 'loDg now that he'd rnther have his head 
in a book than be workin'. He don't take no in- 
terest in the stock, nor in the farm improvements. 
Everybody else is dependent in this world on the 
farmer, and I think that we've got too many eddi- 
cated fellows settin' 'round now for the farmers 
to support." 

To this Gai-field answered that he was sorry for 
the father's decision, since his son, if pemiitted to 
come the next term, would be far enough advanced 
to teach school, and so begin to help himself 
along. Teaching would pay better than working 
on the farm in the winter. 

" Do you really think Henry can teach next 
winter ? " asked the father, to whom the idea was 
a new one. 

" I should think so, certainly," answered Gar- 
field. " Eut if he can not do so theu, he can in a 
short time." 

" Wal, I will think on it. He wants to come 
back bad enough, and I guess I'll have to let him. 
I never thought of it that way afore." 

The victory was won. Henry came back the 
next term, and after finishing at Hii-am, graduated 
at an Eastern college. 



CHAPTER XX. 

GAUFIELD BECOMES A STATE SENATOR. 

Pkobably Garfield considered now that he was 
settled in life. He had married the woman of 
his choice, set up a pleasant home, and was fnllj 
occupied with a class of duties that suited him. 
Living frugally, he was able to lay by a portioia 
of his salary annually, and saw the way open, if 
life and health continued, to a moderate pros- 
perity. He seemed to be a born teacher, and his 
life seemed likely to be passed in that pleasant 
and tranquil office. 

Many ^^ears before, while still unmarried, his 
mother had been a teacher, and one of her expe- 
riences when so occupied was so remarkable that 
T can not forbear quoting it : 

^' About the year 1820 she and her sister were 

left alone in the world, without provision, so 

far as the inheritance or possession of property 

was concerned. Preferring to live among rela- 

(179) 



180 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

tives, one went to reside with an uncle in 
Northern Ohio, and the other, Eliza, afterward 
Mrs. Garfield, came to another uncle, the father 
of Samuel Arnold, who then lived on a farm near 
Norwich, Muskingum County, Ohio. There 
Eliza Ballou made her home, cheerfully helping 
at the house or in the field, as was then sometimes 
the custom in a pioneer country. Having some- 
thing more than what at that day was an ordinary 
education, Eliza procured about twenty pupils, 
and taught a summer schooL 

" The school-house was one of the most primi- 
tive kind, and stood in the edge of dense and 
heavily-timbered woods. One day there came up 
a fearful storm of wind and rain, accompanied by 
thunder and lightning. The woods were badly 
wrecked, but the wind left the old log-house un- 
injured. ISTot so the lightning. A bolt struck a 
tree that projected closely over the roof, and then 
the roof itself. Some of the pupils were greatly 
alarmed, and no doubt thought it the crack of 
doom, or the day of judgment. The teacher, as 
calm and collected as possible, tried to quiet her 
pupils and keep them in their places. A man 
who was one of the pupils, in speaking of the 



JAMES A. QABFIELD. \^\ 

occurrence, says that for a little while he remem- 
bered nothing, and then he looked around, and 
saw, as he thought, the teacher and pupils lying 
dead on the floor. Presently the teacher began 
to move a little. Then, one by one, the pupils 
got up, with a single exception. Help, medical 
and otherwise, was obtained as soon as possible 
for this one, but, though life was saved for a time, 
reason had forever fled." 

This was certainly a fearful experience for a 
young teacher. 

It was while on a visit to her sister, already 
married, in N^orthern Ohio, that Eliza made the 
acquaintance of Abram Garfield, the father of the 
future President. In this neighborhood, while 
on a visit to his relatives, at the age of seventeen, 
James obtained a school and taught for a single 
term. 

Having retraced our steps to record this early 
experience of James' mother, we take the oppor- 
tunity to mention an incident in the life of her 
son, which was omitted in the proper place. 
The story was told by Garfield himself during 
his last sickness to Mr. Crump, steward of the 
White House. 



182 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" When I was a youngster," said the President, 
" and started for college at Hiram, I had just fif- 
teen dollars — a ten-dollar bill in an old, black- 
leather pocketbook, which was in the breast 
pocket of my coat, and the other five dollars was 
in my trowsers' pocket. I was walking along the 
road, and, as the day was hot, I took off my coat 
and carried it on my arm, taking good care to 
feel every moment or two of the pocketbook, for 
the hard-earned fifteen dollars was to pay my en- 
trance at the college. 

" After a while 1 got to thinking over what 
college life would be like, and forgot all about the 
j)ocketbook for some time, and when I looked 
again it was gone ! I went back mournfully 
along the road, hunting on both sides for the 
pocketbook. Presently I came to a house where 
a young man was leaning over a gate, and he 
asked me when T came up what I was hunting 
for. Upon my explaining my loss, and describing 
the pocketbook, the young man handed it over. 
That young man," the President added, turning 
to his devoted physician, ^' was Dr. Bliss. He 
saved me for college." 

" Yes," said the doctor, " and if I hadn't found 



1 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 133 

your ten dollars you wouldn't have become Presi- 
dent of the United States." 

Many a true word is spoken in jest. It might 
have happened that the boy would have been so 
depressed by the loss of his money that he would 
have given up his plan of going to Hiram and 
returned home to fill an humbler place in the 
world. 

But it is time to return from this digression 
and resume our narrative. 

Devoted to his profession, young Garfield had 
given but little attention to politics. But in the 
political campaign of 1857 and 1858 he became 
interested in the exciting political questions which 
agitated the community, and, taking the stump, 
he soon acquired the reputation of a forcible and 
logical stump orator. This drew the attention of 
the voters to him, and in 1859 he was tendered 
a nomination to the Ohio Senate from the coun- 
ties of Portage and Summit. His speeches during 
the campaign of that year are said to have been 
warm, fresh, and impassioned, and he was elected 
by a handsome majority. 

This was the first entrance of the future Presi- 
dent upon public life. The session was not long, 



184 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

and the absence of a few weeks at Colnni'ms did 
not seriously intei-fere with his college duties. 

In the Senate he at once took high rank. He 
was always ready to speak, his past expei'ienee 
having made this easy. He took care to inform 
himself upon the subjects which came up for 
legislation, and for this reason he was always 
listened to with i-espectful attention. Moreover, 
his genial manners and warmth of heart made 
him a general favorite among all his fellow legis- 
lators, whether they belonged to his party or to 
the opposition. 

Again, in the session of 1860-61, being also a 
member of the Senate, he took a prominent part 
in such measures as were proposed to uphold the 
National Government, menaced by the represent- 
ative men of the South. He was among the fore- 
most in declaring that the integrity of the Union 
must be protected at all hazards, and declared 
that it was the right and duty of the Government 
to coerce the seceded States. 

When the President's call for seventy-five 
thousand men was made public, and announce- 
ment was made to the Ohio Senate, Senator Gar- 
field sprang to his feet, and amid loud applause 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. jg5 

moved tliat ''twenty thousand troops and three 
millions of money" sliould be at once voted as 
Ohio's quota! lie closed his speech by offering 
his services to Governor Dennison in any ca- 
pacity. 

Til is offer the Governor bore in mind, and on 
the 14th of August, 1861, Garfield was offered 
the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Forty-second 
Ohio regiment, which he had been instrumental 
in forming. 

It was a serious moment for Garfield. The 
acceptance of this commission would derange all 
his cherished plans. It would separate him from 
his wife and child, and from the loved institution 
of which he was the head. He must bid fare- 
well to the calm, studious life, which he so much 
enjoyed, and spend days and months in the camp, 
liable at any moment to fall the victim of an 
enemy's bullet. 

Suppose he should be killed ? His wife would 
have no provision but the small sum of three 
thousand dollars, which he had been able by 
great economy to save from his modest salary. 

He hesitated, but it was not for long. He was 



136 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

liot a man to shrink from the call of duty. Be- 
fore moving he wrote to a friend : 

'•' I regard mj life as given to the country. I 
am only anxious to make as much of it as possi- 
ble before the mortgage on it is foreclosed." 



CHzVPTER XXI. 

A DIFFICULT DUTY. 

Haying made up his mind to serve his country 
in the field, Garfield immediately wrote to the 
Governor accepting the appointment. 

The regiment to which he was assigned was 
recruited from the same counties which he repre- 
sented in the State Senate. A large number of 
the ofiicers and privates had been connected as 
students with Hiram College, and were person- 
ally known to Garfield. 

His first step was to qualify himself for his 
new position. Of the art and mystery of war 
the young scholar knew little, but he was no 
worse off than many another whom the exigen- 
ce js of his country summoned from peaceful pur- 
suits to the tented field and the toilsome march. 
It was probably the only oflBce which he ever 
assumed without suitable qualifications. But it 

was not in his nature to undertake any duties 

(187). 



188 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

without endeavoring to fit himself for their dis- 
charge. 

His method of studying the art of war was 
curious and original. Falling back on his old 
trade of carpenter, he brought " his saw and jack- 
plane again into plaj, fashioned companies, offi- 
cers and non-commissioned officers out of maple 
blocks, and with these wooden-headed troops he 
thoroughly mastered the infantry tactics in his 
quarters." There was this advantage in his 
method, that his toy troops were thoroughly 
manageable. 

The next step was to organize a school for the 
officers of his regiment, requiring thorough reci- 
tation in the tactics, while their teacher illustrated 
the maneuvers by the blocks he had prepared 
for his own instruction. He was obliged to begin 
with the officers, that they might be qualified to 
assist him in instructing the men under their 
command. He was then able to institute regi- 
mental, squad, skirmish, and bayonet drill, and 
kept his men at these exercises from six to eight 
hours daily till the Forty-second won the reputa- 
tion of being the best drilled regiment to be 
found in Ohio. 



JAMES A. OABFIELD. Jgg 

My boy readers will be reminded of the way 
in which he taught geometry in one of his winter 
schools, preparing himself at night for the lesson 
of the next day. I would like to call their at- 
tention also to the thoroughness w^ith which he 
did everything. Though previously ignorant of 
military tactics he instructed his regiment in them 
thoroughly, believing that whatever was worth 
doing at all was worth doing well. 

He was appointed Lieutenant- Colonel, but by 
the time his organization was completed he was 
promoted to the Colonelcy. 

At last the preliminary work was completed. 
His men, an undisciplined body when he took 
them in hand, had become trained soldiers, but 
as yet they had not received what Napoleon III. 
called the '' baptism of fire." It is all very well 
to march and countermarch, and practice the or- 
dinary evolutions like militia-men at a muster, 
but how was the regiment, how was its schohirly 
commander likely to act in the field ? 

On the 14th of December orders for the field 
were received by Colonel Gaiiield's command, 
stationed at Oajnp Chase. 

Then came the trial of parting with wife a^d 



190 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

mother and going forth to battle and danger. To 
his mother, whose highest ambition had been that 
her son should be a scholar, it was doubtless a 
keen disappointment that his settled prospects 
should be so broken up ; but she, too, was patriotic, 
and she quietly said : " Go, my son, your life be- 
longs to your country." 

Colonel Garfield's orders were to report to 
General Buell at Louisville. He moved his regi- 
ment by way of Cincinnati to Catlettsburg, Ken- 
tucky, a town at the junction of the Big Sandy 
and the Ohio, and was enabled to report to his 
commander on the 19th of December. 

Then, for the first time, he learned what was 
the nature of the duty that was assigned to him. 
It was no less than to save Kentucky to the Union. 
A border State, with an interest in slavery, public 
opinion was divided, and it was uncertain to 
which side it would incline. The Confederates 
understood the value of the prize, and they had 
taken measures, which promised to be successful, 
to wrest it from the Union. The task had been 
committed to Gen, Humphrey Marshall, who had 
invaded Eastern Kentucky from the Virginia 
border, and had already advanced as far north as 
Prestonburg. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. \^\ 

Gen. Marshall fortified a strong natural posi- 
tion near Paintville, and overran the whole 
Piedmont region. This region contained few 
slaves — but one in twenty-five of the whole popu- 
lation. It was inhabited by a brave rural 
population, more closely resembhng their North- 
ern than their Southern neighbors. Among these 
people Marshall sent stump orators to fire them 
with enthusiasm for the Confederate cause. Such 
men would make valuable soldiers and must be 
won over if possible. 

So all that portion of the State was in a fer- 
ment. It looked as if it would be lost to the 
Union. Marshall was daily increasing the num- 
ber of his forces, preparing either to intercept 
Buell, and prevent his advance into Tennessee, 
or, cutting off his communications, with the 
assistance of Beauregard, to crush him between 
them. 

To Colonel Garfield, an inexperienced civilian, 
who had only studied military tactics by the aid 
of wooden blocks, and who had never been under 
fire, it was proposed to meet Marshall, a trained 
Eoldier, to check his advance, and drive him from 
the State. This would have been formidable 



292 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

enough if he had been provided with an equal 
number of soldiers ; but this was far from being 
the case. He had but twentv-iive hundred men 
to aid him in his difficult work, and of these 
eleven hundred, under Colonel Craven, wei'e a 
hundred miles away, at Paris, Kentucky, and this 
hundred miles was no level plain, but a rough, 
mountainous country, infested with guerrillas and 
occupied by a disloyal people. 

Of course, the first thing to be done was to 
connect with Colonel Craven, but, considering 
the distance and the nature of the country to be 
travei*sed, it was a most difficult problem. The 
chances were that Gen. Marshall, with his vastly 
superior force, would attack the two bodies of 
soldiers separately, and crush them before a union 
could be effected. 

Gen. Buell explained how matters stood to the 
young colonel of volunteers, and ended thus : 

" That is what you have to do, Colonel Gar- 
field — drive Marshall from Kentucky, and you 
see how much depends on your action. Now go 
to year quarters, think of it overnight, and come 
here m the morning aud tell me how you will 
do it." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



193 



In college Garfield had been called upon to 
sol^re many difficult problems in the higher mathe- 
matics, but it is doubtful whether h^ ever 
encountered a more knotty problem than this one. 

He and Colonel Craven represented two little 
boys of feeble strength, unable to combine their 
efforts, who were called upon to oppose and cap- 
ture a big boy of twice their size, who knew a 
good deal more about fighting than they did. 

JSTo wonder the young colonel felt perplexed. 
But he did not give up. It was not his way. 
He resolved to consider whether anything could 
be done, and what. 

My chief object in writing this volume being 
to commend its subject as an example for boys, I 
think it light to call attention to this trait which 
he possessed in a conspicuous degree. Brought 
face to face with difficulty — with what might 
almost be called the impossible, he did not say, 
" Oh, I can't do it. It is impossible." He went 
home to devise a plan. 

First of all, it was important that he should 

imow something of the intervening country— its 

conformation, its rivers and streams, if there were 

any. So, on his way to his room he sought a 

13 



194 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

book-store and bouglit a rude map of Kentucky, 
and then, shutting himself up in his room, while 
others were asleep, he devoted himself to a lesson 
in geography. "With more care than he had ever 
nsed in school, he familiarized himself with the 
geography of the country in which he was to 
operate, and then set himself to devise some 
feasible plan of campaign. 

It was a hard problem, and required still more 
anxious thought, because the general to whom he 
was to report it, was, unlike himself, a man thor- 
oughly trained in the art of war. 

The next morning, according to orders, he 
sought again his commanding officer. 

Gen. Buell was a man of great reticence and 
severe military habits, and if the plan were weak 
or foolish, as might well be from the utter lack of 
experience of the young officer who was to make 
it, he would unhesitatingly say so. 

As Garfield laid his rude map and roughly 
outlined plan on the table, and explained his con- 
ception of the campaign, he watched anxiously to 
see how Gen. Buell was impressed by it. But 
the general was a man who kne-w how to veil his 
thoughts. He w^aited in silence till Garfield had 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^95 

finished, only asking a brief question now and 
then, and at the end, without expressing his 
opinion one way or the other, merely said: 
" Colonel Garfield, your orders will be sent you 
at six o'clock this evening." 

Garfield was not compelled to wait beyond that 
hour. 

Promptly the order came, organizing the 
Eighteenth Brigade of the Army of the Ohio, 
under the command of Colonel Garfield, with a 
letter of instructions, embodying essentially the 
plan submitted by the young officer in the 
morning. 

"When Garfield set out with his command the 
next morning. Gen. Buell said to him at parting: 

"■ Colonel, you will be at so great a distance 
from me, and communication will be so difficult, 
that I must commit all matters of detail and 
much of the fate of the campaign to your discre- 
tion. I shall hope to hear a good account of 
you/' 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Col. Garfield had abeadj sent ou his regi- 
ment in advance to Louisa, twentj-eight miles up 
the Big Sandj. 

There he joined them on the 24:th, having 
waited at Catlettsburg only long enough to for- 
ward to them necessary supplies. 

The arrival of the regiment was opportune, for 
the district was thoroughly alarmed. A regiment 
had been stationed there — the Fourteenth Ken- 
tucky — but had hastily retreated to the mouth of 
the river during the night of the 19th, under the 
impression that Marshall was advancing with his 
forces to drive them into the Ohio. It was a false 
alarm, but the Union citizens were very much 
alarmed, and were preparing with their families 
to cross the river for safety. With the appear- 
ance of Garfield's regiment a feeling of security 

returned. 

(190) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^gy 

I am anxious to make plain to my boy readers 
the manner in which the young colonel managed 
his campaign. I think they will have no difficul- 
ty in understanding that Garfield had two very 
difficult things to accomplish. Colonel Craven 
knew nothing of Garfield's advance, nor of his 
plans. It was necessary to inform him. Again, 
if possible, a junction must be effected. The first 
was difficult, because the intervening country was 
infested with roving bands of guerrillas, and a 
messenger must take his life in his hands. How, 
again, could a junction be effected in the face of 
a superior enemy, liable to fall upon either col- 
umn and crush it ? 

Obviously the first thing was to find a mes- 
senger. 

Garfield applied to Col. Moore of the Four- 
teenth Kentucky, and made known his need. 

" Have you a man," he asked, " who will die 
rather than fail or betray us ? " 

" Yes,'' answered the Kentuckian, after a pause, 
" I think I have. His name is John Jordan, and 
he comes from the head of the Blaine." 

This was a small stream which entered the Bis: 
Sandy, a short distance from the town. 



198 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

At the request of Garfield, Jordan was sent for. 
In a short time he entered the tent of the Union 
commander. 

This John Jordan was a remarkable, man, and 
well known in all that region. He was of Scotch 
descent, and possessed some of the best traits of 
her Scotch ancestry. He was a born actor, a man 
of undoubted courage, fertile in expedients, and 
devoted to the Union cause. 

Garfield was a judge of men, and he was im- 
pressed in the man's favor at firet sight. He de- 
scribes Jordan as a tall, gaunt, sallow man, about 
thirty years of age, with gray eyes, a fine falsetto 
voice, and a face of wonderful expressiveness. 
To the young colonel he was a new type of man, 
but withal a man whom he was convinced that 
he could trust. 

" Why did you come into this war ? " he asked, 
with some curiosity. 

" To do my share, colonel, and I've made a 
bargain with the Lord. I gave Him my life to 
start with, and if He has a mind to take it, it's 
His. I've nothing to say agin it." 

" You mean you have come into the war, not 
expecting to get out of it alive? " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



L99 



** Yes, colonel." 

" You know what I want you to do. Will you 
die rather than let this dispatch be taken ? " 

" I will." 

Garfield looked into the man's face, and he 
read unmistakable sincerity. 

He felt that the man could be trusted, and he 
said so. 

The dispatch was written upon tissue paper. It 
was then rolled into the form of a bullet, coated 
with warm lead, and given into the hands of the 
messenger. He was provided with a carbine and 
a brace of revolvers, and when the moon was 
down, he mounted his horse in the darkness and 
set out on his perilous journey. 

It would not do to ride in the daytime, for in- 
evitably he would be stopped, or shot down. By 
day he must hide in the woods, and travel only 
at night. 

His danger was increased by the treachery of 
one of his own comrades of the Fourteenth Ken- 
tucky, and he was followed by a band of guerrillas 
in the Confederate interest. Of this, however, 
Jordan was not apprised, and supposing himself 
secure he sought shelter and concealment at the 



200 BOYHOOB AND MANHOOD OF 

house of a man whom he knew to be loyal. Near 
enough to see, but not to be seen, the guerrillas 
waited till the tii'ed messenger was sleeping, and 
then coming boldly out of the woods, surrounded 
the house. 

In a fright the good housewife ran up to his 
chamber, and shook the sleeping man. 

'Wake for your life ! '' she said. " The guer- 
rillas are outside, clamoring for you. I have lock- 
ed the doors, but I can not keep them out long." 

Jordan had thrown himself on the bed with 
his clothes on. He knew that he was hable to be 
surprised, and in such an event time was most 
valuable. Though awakened from a sound sleep, 
he had all his wits about him. 

'' Thank you," said he. " I have a favor to ask 
in the name of our cause." 

"Be quick, then," said the woman. "They 
are bursting open the door." 

"Take this bullet. It contains a secret dis- 
patch, which, if I am killed, I enjoin upon you 
to convey to Colonel Craven, at Paris. Will you 
doit?" 

'' If I can." 

« Then I am off." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 201 

The door burst open, but lie made a sudden 
dash, and escaped capture. He headed for the 
woods, amid a volley of bullets, but none of them 
reached him. Once he turned round, and fired 
an answering shot. He did not stop to see if it 
took effect, but it was the messenger of Death. 
One of the guerrillas reeled, and measured his 
length upon the ground, dead in a moment. 

Fleet as a deer the brave scout pushed on till 
he got within the protecting shadows of the 
friendly woods. There they lost the trail, and 
though he saw them from his place of conceal- 
ment, he was himself unseen. 

" Curse him ! " said the disappointed leader. 
" He must have sunk into the earth, or vanished 
into the air." 

" If he's sunk into the earth, that is where we 
want him," answered another, with grim humor. 

" You will find I am not dead yet ! " said the 
hidden scout to himself. " I shall live to trouble 
you yet." 

He passed the remainder of the day in the 
woods, fearing that his pursuers might still be 
Lingering about. 

" If there were only two or three, I'd come out 



202 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

and face 'em," he said, " but tlie odds are too 
great. I must skulk back in the darkness, and 
get back the bullet." 

ISTight came on, and the woman who had saved 
him, heard a low tapping at the door. It might 
be an enemy, and she advanced, and opened it 
with caution. A figure, seen indistinctly in the 
darkness, stood before her. 

" Who are you ? " she asked doubtfully. 

" Don't be afraid, ma'am, it's only me." 

" And yoa " 

" Are the man you saved this morning ! " 

"God be thanked! Then you were not 
killed?" 

" Do I look like a dead man ? l^o, my time 
hasn't come yet. I foiled 'em in the wood, and 
there I have spent all day. Have you any vict- 
uals, for I am famished ? " 

"Yes, come in." 

" I can not stay. I will take what you have 
and leave at once, for the villains may be lurkin' 
round here somewhere. But first, the bullet! 
have you that safe ? " 

" Here it is." 

The scout put it in his pocket, and taking in 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 203 

his hand a paper box of bread and meat which 
his loyal hostess brought him, resumed his hazard- 
ous journey. 

He knew that there were other perils to en- 
counter, unless he was particularly fortunate, but 
he had a heart prepared for any fate. The perils 
came, but he escaped them with adroitness, and 
at midnight of the following day he was admit- 
ted into the presence of Colonel Craven. 

Surely this was no common man, and his feat 
was no common one. 

In forty-eight hours, traveling only by night, 
he had traversed one hundred miles with a rope 
round his neck, and without the prospect of 
special reward. For he was but a private, and 
received but a private's pay — thirteen dollars a 
month, a shoddy uniform, and hard-tack, when he 
could get it. 

Colonel Craven opened the bullet, and read the 
dispatch. 

It was dated "Louisa, Kentucky, December 
24, midnight " ; and directed him to move at once 
with his regiment (the Fortieth Ohio, eight hun- 
dred strong) by way of Mount Sterling and 
McCormick's Gap, to Prestonburg. He was to 



204 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

encumber his men with as few rations as possible, 
since the safety of his command depended on his 
celerity. He was also requested to notify Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Woodford, at Stamford, and direct 
him to join the march with his three hundred 
cavalry. 

On the following morning Col. Craven's column 
began to move. The scout waited till night, and 
then set out on his return. The reader will be 
glad to learn that the brave man rejoined his 
regiment. 



CHAPTER XXITI. 



Garfield didn't wait for the scout's return. 
He felt that no time was to be lost. The expedi- 
tion which he had planned was fraught with peril, 
but it was no time for timid counsels. 

On the morning following Jordan's departure 
he set out up the river, halting at George's Creek, 
only twenty miles from Marshall's intrenched po- 
sition. As the roads along the Big Sandy were 
impassable for trains, and unsafe on account of 
the nearness of the enemy, he decided to depend 
mainly upon water navigation for the transporta- 
tion of his supplies. 

The Big Sandy finds its way to the Ohio 

through the roughest and wildest spurs of the 

Cumberland Mountains, and is a narrow, fickle 

stream. At low-water it is not navigable above 

Louisa, except for small fiat-boats pushed by hand. 

At high-water small steamers can reach Piketon, 

(205) 



206 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

one hundred and twenty miles from the mouth ; 
but when there are heavy freshets the s^^^ft cur- 
rent, tilled with floating timber, and the over- 
hanging trees which almost touch one another 
from the opposite banks, render navigation al- 
most impracticable. This was enough to intimidate 
a man less in earnest than Garfield. He did not 
hesitate, but gathering together ten days' rations, 
he chartered two small steamers, and seizing all 
the flat-boats he could lay hands on, took his 
army wagons apart, and loaded them, with his 
forage and provisions, upon the flat-boats. 

Just as he was ready to start he received an 
unexpected reinforcement. Captain Bent, of the 
Fourteenth Kentucky, entering Garfield's tent, 
said to him, " Colonel, there's a man outside who 
says he knows you. Bradley Brown, a rebel 
thief and scoundrel." 

" Bradley Brown," repeated Garfield, puzzled. 
" I don't remember any sach name." 

" He has lived near the head of the Blaine, and 
been a boatman on the river. He says he knew 
you on the canal in Ohio." 

" Oh, yes, I remember him now ; bring him 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. OQ? 

Brown was ushered into the general's tent. 
He was clad in homespun, and spattered from 
head to foot with mud, but he saw in Garfield 
only the friend of earlier days, and hurrying up 
to him, gave him a hearty grasp of the hand, ex- 
claiming, "Jim, old feller, how are yer?" 

Garfield received him cordially, but added, 
"What is this I hear, Erown ? Are you a 
rebel ? " 

" Yes," answered the new-comer, " I belong to 
Marshall's force, and I've come straight from his 
camp to spy out your army." 

" Well, you go about it queerly," said Garfield, 
puzzled. 

" Wait till you are alone, colonel. Then I'll 
tell you about it." 

Col. Bent said in an undertone to Garfield, as 
he left the tent, "Don't trust him, colonel; I 
know him as a thief and a rebel." 

This was the substance of Brown's communi- 
cation. As soon as he heard that James A. Gar- 
field was ill command of the Union forces, it in- 
stantly struck him that it must be his old com- 
rade of the canal, for whom he still cherished a 
strong attachment. He was in the rebel camp. 



208 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

but in reality cared little which side was success- 
ful, and determined out of old friendship to help 
Gariield if he could. 

Concealing his design, he sought Marshall, and 
proposed to visit the Union camp as a spy, men- 
tioning his former intimacy with Garfield. Gen. 
Marshall readily acceded to his plan, not sus- 
pecting that it was his real pui-pose to tell Gar- 
field all he knew about the rebel force. He pro- 
ceeded to give the colonel valuable information 
on this subject. 

When he had finished, Garfield said, '' I advise 
you to go back to Marshall." 

" Go back to him, colonel ? Why, he would 
bans: me to the first tree." 

" Xot if you tell him all about my strength and 
intended movements." 

" But how kin I ? I don't know a thing. 1 
was brought into the camp blindfolded." 

"Still you can guess. Suppose you tell him 
that I shall march to-morrow straight for his camp, 
and in ten days be upon him." 

" You'd be a fool, colonel, to do that, and he 
'trenched so strongly, unless you had twenty thou- 
sand men." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



209 



"I haven't got that number. Guess again." 

« AVell, ten thousand." 

*' That will do for a guess. * E'ow to-daj I shall 
keep you locked up, and to-morrow you can go 
back to Marshall." 

At nightfall Brown went back to the rebel 
camp, and his report was made in accordance with 
Garfield's suggestions. 

The fact was, that deducting those sick and on 
garrison duty, Garfield's little army amounted to 
but fourteen hundred in place of the ten thou- 
sand reported to the rebel commander. This lit- 
tle army was set in motion the next day. It was 
a toilsome and discouraging march, over roads 
knee-deep in mire, and the troops necessarily 
made but slow progress, being frequently obliged 
to halt. Some days they succeeded in making but 
five or six miles. On the 6th of January, how- 
ever, they arrived within seven miles of Paint- 
ville. Here while Garfield was trying to catch a 
few hours' sleep, in a wretched log hut, he was 
roused by Jordan, the scout, who had just man- 
aged to reach the camp. 

" Have you seen Craven ? " asked Garfield 
eagerly. 

14 



210 BOTEOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

"Yes ; he can't be morc'n two days beliind me, 
noliow." 

" God bless you, Jordan ! You have done iis 
great service," said Garfield, warinlj, feeling 
deeply relieved by this important news. 

" Thank ye, colonel. That's more pay 'n I ex- 
pected." 

In the morning another horseman rode up to 
the Union camp. He was a messenger direct 
from Gen. Buell. He brought with him an inter- 
cepted letter from Marshall to his wife, revealing 
the important fact that the Confederate general 
had five thousand men — forty-four hundred in- 
fantry and six hundred cavalry — ►with twelve 
pieces of artillery, and that he was daily expecting 
an attack from a Union force of ten thousand. 

It was clear that Brown had been true, and 
that it was from him Gen. Marshall had received 
this trustworthy intelligence of the strength of 
the Union army. 

Garfield decided not to communicate the con- 
tents of this letter, lest his officers should be 
alarmed at the prospect of attacking a force so 
much superior. He called a council, however, 
and put this question : 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. oil 

" Shall we march at once, or wait the coming 
of Craven ? " 

All but one were in favor of waiting, but Gar- 
field adopted the judgment of this one. 

'' Forward it is ! " he said. " Give the order." 

I will only state the plan of Garfield's attack 
in a general way. There were three roads that 
led to Marshall's position— one to the east, one to 
the west, and one between the two. These 
three roads were held by strong Confederate 
pickets. 

ISTow, it was Garfield's policy to keep Marshall 
deceived as to his strength. For this reason, he 
sent a small body to drive in the enemy's pickets, 
as if to attack Paintville. Two liours after, a 
similar force, with the same orders, were sent on 
the road to the westward, and two hours later 
still, a small force was sent on the middle road. 
The first pickets, retreating in confusion, fled to 
the camp, with the intelligence that a large body 
of Union troops were on their way to make an 
attack. Similar tidings were brought by the two 
other bodies of pickets, and Marshall, in dismay, 
was led to believe that he was menaced by supe- 
rior numbers, and hastily abandoned Paintville, 



212 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

and Garfield, moving Lis men rapidly over the 
central route, occupied tlie town. 

Gen. Marshall would have been intensely 
mortified had he known that this large Union 
army was little more than one-fourth the size of 
his own. 

But his alarm was soon increased. On the 
evening of the 8th of January, a spy entered his 
camp, and reported that Craven, with thirty- 
three hundred men^ was within twelve hours' 
march at the westward. 

The big general (he weighed three hundred 
pounds) was panic-stricken. Believing Garfield's 
force to number ten thousand, this reinforce- 
ment would carry his strength up to over thirteen 
thousand. Ruin and defeat, as he fancied, stared 
him in the face, for how could his five thousand 
men encounter nearly three times their number ? 
They would, of course, be overwhelmed. There 
was safety only in flight. 

So the demoralized commander gave orders to 
break camp, and retreated precipitately, abandon- 
ing or burning a large portion of his supplies. 

Garfield saw the fires, and guessed what had 
happened, being in the secret of Marshall's delu- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 213 

sion. He mounted liis horse, and, with a thousand 
men, entered the deserted camp at nine in the 
evening. The stores that were yet unconsumed 
he rescued from destruction for the use of b^si own 
army. 

In order to keep up the delusion, he sent off a 
detachment to harass the retreat of his ponderous 
adversary and fill his mind with continued disquiet. 

The whole thing was a huge practical joke, but 
not one that the rebels were likely to enjoy. 
Fancy a big boy of eighteen fleeing in dismay 
from a small urchin of eight, and we have a par- 
allel to this flight of Gen. Marshall from an in- 
trenched position, with five thousand troops, 
when his opponent could muster but fourteen 
hundred men in the open field. 

Thus far, I think, it will be agreed that Colonel 
Garfield was a strategist of the first order. His 
plan required a boldness and dash which, under 
the circumstances, did him the greatest credit. 

The next morning Colonel Craven arrived, and 
found, to his amazement, that Garfield, single- 
handed, had forced his formidable enemy from his 
strong position, and was in triumphant possession 
of the deserted rebel camp. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

THE BATTLE OF MIDDLE (JEEEK. 

Col. Garfield has gained a great advantage, 
but he knows that it must be followed up. His 
ambition is not satisfied. He means to force a 
fight with Marshall, despite the odds. 

He has been reinforced, but Craven's men are 
completely exhausted by their long and toilsome 
march. They are hardly able to drag i)ne foot 
after the other. Garfield knows this, but he ex- 
plains to his men what he proposes to do. He 
orders those who have strength to come forward. 
Of the men under his immediate command seven 
hundred obey the summons. Of Craven's weary 
followers four hundred heroic men volunteer to 
accompany him. 

So at noon of the 9th, with eleven hundred 

men, Garfield sets out for Prestonburg, sending 

all his available cavalry to follow the line of the 
(214) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



215 



enemy's retreat. At nine o'clock that niglit, after 
a march, of eighteen miles, he reaches the mouth 
of Abbott's Creek with his eleven hundred men. 
He hears that his opponent is encamped three 
miles higher up on the same stream. He sends 
an order back to Lieutenant-Colonel Sheldon, 
who is left in command at Faintville, to bring up 
every available man with all possible dispatch, 
for he intends to force a battle in the morning. 

He requires to know the disposition of Mar- 
shall's forces, and here the gallant scout, John 
Jordan, again is of service to him. While a dozen 
Confederates were grinding at a mill, they were 
surprised by as many Union men, who, taking 
them by sui-prise, captured their corn, and made 
them prisoners. Jordan eyed the miller with a 
critical eye, and a plan was instantly formed. 
The miller was a tall, gaunt man, and his clothes 
would fit the scout. He takes a fancy to exchange 
raiment with the miller. Then, smearing his face 
with meal, he goes back to the Confederate camp 
in a new character. Even if he is surprised he 
will escape suspicion, for the miller is a pro- 
nounced disunionist, and he looks his very unage. 

His midnight ramble enabled him to learn pre- 



216 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

ciselj what it was important for Garfield to know. 
He found ont their exact position, and that they 
had laid an ambuscade for the Union commander. 
They were waiting for him, strongly posted on a 
semicircular hill at the forks of Middle Creek, on 
both sides of the road, with cannon command- 
ing its whole length, hidden by the trees and 
nnder brush. 

" They think they've got you, general," said 
Jordan. " They're waitin' for you as a cat waits 
for a mouse." 

Upon a steep ridge called Abbott's Hill, the 
Union soldiers, titled and sleepy, had thrown them- 
selves upon the wet ground. There was a dense 
fog, shutting out the moon and stars, and shroud- 
ing the lonely mountain in darkness. The rain 
was driven in blinding gusts into the faces of the 
shivering men, and tired as they were they hailed 
with joy the coming of morning. For more than 
one brave man it was destined to be his last day 
upon earth. 

At four o'clock they started on their march. 
About daybreak, while rounding a hill, their ad- 
vance guard was charged upon by a body of Con- 
federate horsemen. In return Garfield gave the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 217 

Confederates a volley, tliat sent them reeling up 
the valley. 

It was clear that the main body ot the enemy 
was not far away. To determine this Garfield 
sent forward a body of skii-mishers to draw the 
fire of the enemy. He succeeded, for a twelve- 
pound shell whistled above the trees, then plowed 
np the hill, and buried itself in the ground at the 
feet of the little band of skirmishers. 

ISToon came, and Garfield made the necessary 
preparations for battle. He could not have been 
without apprehension, for he knew, though the 
enemy did not, that their force was far superior 
to his. He sent forward his mounted escort of 
twelve men to make a charge and draw the 
enemy^s fire. His plan succeeded. Another shell 
whistled over their heads, and the long roll of 
five thousand muskets was heard. 

It was certainly a remarkable battle, when we 
consider that a small band of eleven hundred men 
without cannon had undertaken to attack a force 
of five thousand, supported by twelve pieces of 
artillery, charging up a rocky hill, over stumps, 
over stones, over fallen trees, and over high in- 
trenchments. 



218 



BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 



" The battle was fought on the margin of Mid- 
dle Creek, a narrow, rapid stream, and three 
miles from where it finds its way into the Big 
Sandy, through the sharp spm-s of the Cumber- 
land Mountain. A rocky road, not ten feet in 
width, winds along this stream, and on its two 
banks abrupt ridges, with steep and rocky sides, 
overgrown with trees and underbrush, shut closely 
down upon the road and the little streamlet. At 
twelve o'clock Garfield had gained the crest of 
the ridge at the right of the road, and the charge 
of his handful of horsemen had drawn Marsliall's 
fire, and disclosed his actual position. 

" The main force of the Confederates occupied 
the crests of the two ridges at the left of the 
stream, but a strong detachment was posted on 
the right, and a battery of twelve pieces held the 
forks of the creek, and commanded the approach 
of the Union army. It was Marshall's plan to 
drive Garfield along the road, and then, taking 
him between two enfilading fires, to surround and 
utterly destroy him. But his hasty fire betrayed 
his design, and unmasked his entire position. 

" Garfield acted with promptness and decision. 
A hundred undergraduates, recruited from his 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 219 

own college, were ordered to cross tlie stream, 
climb the ridge whence the fire had been hottest, 
and bring on the battle. Boldly the little band 
plunged into the creek, the icy water up to their 
waists, and clinging to the trees and underbrush, 
climbed the rocky ascent'. Half-way up the ridge 
the fire of at least two thousand rifles opens upon 
them ; but, springing from tree to tree, they press 
on, and at last reach the summit. Then suddenly 
the hill is gray with Confederates, who, rising 
from ambush, pour their deadly volleys into the 
little band of only one hundred. In a moment 
they waver, but their leader calls out, 'Ever}' 
man to a tree ! Give them as good as they send, 
my boys ! ' 

*'The Confederates, behind rocks and a rude 
intrenchment, are obliged to expose their heads to 
take aim at the advancing column; but the Union 
troops, posted behind the huge oaks and maples, 
can stand erect, and load and fire, fully protected. 
Though they are outnumbered ten to one, the 
contest is therefore, for a time, not so very un- 
equal. 

"But soon the Confederates, exhausted with 
the obstinate resistance, rush from cover, and 



220 B07H00D AND MANHOOD OF 

charge upon the little handful with the bayonet. 
Slowly they are driven down the hill, and two of 
them fall to the ground wounded. One never 
rises ; the other, a lad of only eighteen, is shot 
through the thigh, and one of his comrades turns 
back to bear him to a place of safety. The ad- 
vancing Confederates are within thirty feet, when 
one of them fires, and his bullet strikes a tree 
directly above the head of the Union soldier. He 
turns, levels his musket, and the Confederate is 
in eternity. Then the rest are upon him ; but, 
zisczagging from tree to tree, he is soon with his 
driven column. But not far are the brave boys 
driven. A few rods lower down they hear the 
voice of the brave Captain Williams, their leader. 

" ' To the trees again, my boys I ' he cries. ' AYe 
may as well die here as in Ohio ! ' 

" To the trees they go, and in a moment the 
advancing horde is checked, and then rolled back- 
ward. Up the hill they turn, firing as they go, 
and the little band follows. Soon the Confed- 
erates reach the spot where the Hiram boy lies 
wounded, and one of them says : ' Boy, give me 
your musket.' 

*' ' Not the gun, but its contents,' cries the boy, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 221 

and the Confederate falls mortally wounded. 
Another raises his weapon to brain the prostrate 
lad, but he too falls, killed with his comrade's own 
rifle. And all this is done while the hero-boy is 
on the ground, bleeding. An hour afterward 
his comrades bear the boy to a sheltered spot on 
the other side of the streamlet, and then the first 
word of complaint escapes him. As they are 
taking off his leg, he says, in his agony, ' Oh, 
what will mother do ? ' " 

Poor boy ! At that terrible moment, in 'the 
throes of his fierce agony, he thought not of him- 
self, but of the mother at home, who was de- 
pendent on his exertions for a livelihood. For in 
war it is not alone the men in the field who are 
called upon to suffer, but the mothers, the wives, 
and the children, left at home, whose hearts are 
rent with anxiety— to whom, at any moment, may 
come the tidings of the death of their loved one. 

On a rocky height, commanding the field, Gar- 
field watched the tide of battle. He saw that it 
was unequal, and that there was danger that his 
troops would be overmatched. He saw that they 
were being driven, and that they would lose the 
hill if not supported. 



222 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OB 

Instantly lie ordered to tlie rescue five hundred 
of the Ohio Fortieth and Forty-second, under 
Major Pardee and Colonel Craven. They dashed 
holdlj into the stream, holding their caitiidge- 
boxes above their heads, and plunged into the 
light, sliooting : 

" Hurrah for Williams and the Hiram boys ! " 

But their position was most critical, for shot, 
and shell, and canister, and the fire oi four thou- 
sand muskets are now concentrated upon them. 

" This will never do ! " cries Garfield. '' Who 
will voUmteer to carry the other mountain 1 " 

Colonel Munroe, of the Twenty-second Ken- 
tucky, responded quickly, " We will. We know 
every inch of the ground." 

" Go in, then," cries Garfield, "and give them 
Columbia!" 

I have not space to record the varying fortunes 
of the day. For five hours the contest rages. By 
turns the Union forces are driven back, and then, 
with a brave charge, they regain their lost 
ground, and from behind rocks and trees pour in 
their murderous volleys. The battle began at 
noon, and when the sun sets on the brief winter 
day it is still unfinished. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



223 



Posted on a projecting rock, in full sight of 
both armies, stands the Union commander — his 
head uncovered, his hair steaming in the wind, 
and his heart full of alternate hopes and fears. It 
looks as if the daj were lost — as if the gallant 
eleven hundred were conquered at last, when, at 
a critical moment, the starry banner is seen 
waving over an advancing host. It is Sheldon 
and reinforcements— long and anxiously ex- 
pected ! Their shouts are taken up by the 
eleven hundred f The enemy see them and are 
panic-stricken. 

The day is won 1 



CHAPTER XXY. 

THE PERILOUS TEIP UP THE BIG SANDY. 

I HAVE followed Col. Garfield through the 
Kentucky campaign, not because it compared in 
importance with many other military operations 
of the war, but because in its conduct he display- 
ed in a remarkable degree some of the traits by 
which he was distinguished. From a military 
point of view it may be criticised. His attack 
upon an enemy far his superior in numbers, and in 
a more favorable position, would scarcely have 
been undertaken by an ofiicer of more militarv 
experience. Yet, once undertaken, it was carried 
through with remarkable dash and brilliancy, and 
the strategy displayed was of a high order. 

I must find room for the address issued to his 
little army on the day succeeding the battle, for 
it tells, in brief, the story of the campaign : 

" Soldiers of the Eighteenth Brigade : I am 

(224.) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 225 

proud of vou all! In four weeks jou have 
marclie i, some eighty and some a hundred miles, 
over almost impassable roads. One night in four 
you have slept, often in the storm, with only a 
wintry sky above your heads. You have marched 
in the face of a foe of more than double your 
number — led on by chiefs who have won a na- 
tional reputation under the old flag — intrenched 
in hills of his own choosing, and strengthened by 
all the appliances of military art. With no expe- 
rience but the consciousness of your own man- 
hood, you have driven him from his strongholds, 
pursued his inglorious flight, and compelled him 
to meet you in battle. When forced to fight, he 
sought the shelter of rocks and hills. You drove 
him from his position, leaving scores of his bloody 
dead unburled. His artillery thundered against 
you, but you compelled him to flee by the light 
of his burning stores, and to leave even the ban- 
ner of his rebellion behind him. I greet you as 
brave men. Our common country will not for- 
get you. She will not forget the sacred dead 
who fell beside you, nor those of your comrades 
who won scars of honor on the field. 

" I have recalled you from the pursuit that you 
15 



226 BOYBOO'D AND MANHOOD OF 

may regain xigoY for still greater exertions. Let 
no one taiTiish his well-earned honor by any act 
unworthy an American soldier. Remember your 
duties as American citizens, and sacredly respect 
the rights and property of those with whom yon 
have come in contact. Let it not be said that 
good men dread the approach of an American 
army. 

" Officers and soldiers, your duty has been no- 
bly done. For this I thank you." 

The battle had been won, but the victorious 
army was in jeopardy. They had less than three 
days' rations, and there were great difficulties in 
the way of procuring a further supply. The rainy 
season had made the roads impassable for all but 
horsemen. 

Still there was the river. But the Big Sandy 
was now swollen beyond its banks, and the rapid 
current was filled with floating logs and uptorn 
trees. The oldest and most experienced boatmen 
shook their heads, and woidd not attempt the 
perilous voyage. 

What was to be done ? 

Col. Garfield had with ' him Brown, the scout 
and ex-canal-boatman, who had returned from 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. £27 

reconnoitering Marshall's camp, with a bullet 
through his hat. Garfield asked his advice. 

"It's which and t'other, General eTim," he an- 
swered, ^'starvin' or drown in'. I'd rather drown 
nur starve. So gin the word, and, dead or ahve, 
I'll git down the river ! " 

Garfield gave the word, but he did not let the 
brave scout go alone. Together in a snjall ski^ 
thej "got down the river." It was no light task. 
The Big Sandj was now a raging torrent, sixty 
feet in depth, and, in many places, above the tops 
of the tall trees which gi^ew along its margin. In 
some deep and narrow gorges, where the steep 
banks shut down upon the stream, these trees 
had been undermined at the roots, and, falling ir- 
ward, had locked their amis together, forming a 
net-work that well-nigh prevented the passage of 
the small skiff and its two navigators. Where a 
small skiff could scarcely pass, could they run a 
large pteamboat loaded with provisions? 

" Other men might ask that question, but not 
the backwoods boy who had learned navigation on 
the waters of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal. 
He pushed to the mouth of the river, and there 
took possession of the Sandy Valley, a small 



228 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

steamer in the q-uarterraaster's service. Loading 
iier with supplies, he set about starting up the 
river, but the captain of the boat declared the 
thing was impossible. ISTot stopping to argue 
the point, Garfield ordered him and his crew on 
board, and himself taking the helm, set out up 
the river. 

" Brown he stationed at the bow, where, with 
a long f ending-pole in his hand, he was to keep 
one eje on the floating logs and uprooted trees, 
the other on the chicken-hearted captain. 

" The river surged and boiled and whirled 
against the boat, tossing her about as if she were 
a cockle-shell. With every turn of her wheel she 
trembled from stem to stern, and with a full head 
of steam could only stagger along at the rate of 
three miles an hour. When night came the cap- 
tain begged to tie up till morning, for breasting 
that flood in the dark was sheer madness ; but 
Brown cried out, ' Put her ahead, Gineral Jim,' 
aiid Garfield clutched the helm and drove her on 
throusfh the darkness. 

o 

" Soon th3y came to a sudden bend in the 
stream, where the swift current formed a furious 
whirlpool, and this catching the laboring boat, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD 229 

whirled her suddenlj round, and drove her, head 
on, into the quicksands. Mattocks were plied, 
and excavations made round the imbedded bow, 
and the bowman uttered oaths loud enough to 
have raised a small earthquake ; but still the boat 
was immovable. She was stuck fast in the mud, 
and every effort to move her was fruitless. Gar- 
field ordered a small boat to be lowered, and take 
a line to the other bank, bj which to warp the 
steamer free; but the captain and now the crew 
protested it was certain death to attempt to cross 
that foaming torrent at midnight. 

" They might as well have repeated to him 
the Creed and the Ten Commandments, for Gar- 
field himself sprang into the boat and called to 
Brown to follow. He took the helm and laid 
her bow across the stream, but the swift current 
swept them downward. After incredible labor 
they made the opposite bank, but far below^ the 
steamboat. Closely hugging the shore, they now 
crept up the stream, and fastening the line to a 
tree, rigged a windlass, and finally warped the 
vessel again into deep w.-Uer. 

^* All that night, and all the next day, and all 
the following night they struggled with the f ui'i- 



230 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

ous river, Garfield never but once leaving tlie 
helm, and theii for only a few hours' sleep, vrhich 
he snatched in his clothes in the day-time. At 
hist they rounded to at the Union camp, and then 
went' up a cheer that might have been heard all 
over Kentucky. His waiting men, frantic with 
joy, seized their glorious commander, and were 
with difficulty prevented from bearing him on 
their shoulders to his quarters." 

The little army was saved from starvation by 
the canal-boy, who had not forgotten his old 
trade. He had risked his life a dozen times over 
in making the perilous trip, which has been so 
graphically described in the passages I have 
quoted. But for his early and humble experi- 
ence, he never would have been able to bring the 
little steamer up the foaming river. Little did he 
dream in the days when, as a boy, he guided the 
Evening Star, that fifteen years hence, an officer 
holding an important command he would use the 
knowledge then acquired to save a famishing 
army. We can not wonder that his men should 
have been devotedly attached to such a com- 
mander. 

I have said that the Kentucky campaign was 



JAMES A. QARFIELD. 231 

not one of the most important operations of the 
civil war, but its successful issue was most wel- 
come, coming at the time it did. It came after 
u series of disasters, which had produced wide- 
spread despondency, and even dimmed the cour- 
age of President Lincoln. It kindled hope in 
the despondent, and nerved patriotic arms to new 
and vigorous efforts. 

'■' Why did Garfield, in two weeks, do what it 
would have taken one of you Eegular folks two 
months to accomplish ? " asked the President, of 
a distinguished army officer. 

" Because he was not educated at West Point," 
answered the officer, lauo^hinof. 

" No," replied Mr. Lincoln ; " that wasn't the 
reason. It was because, when a boy, he had to 
work for a living:." 

This was hterally true. To his struggling boy- 
hood and early manhood, and the valuable expe- 
rience it brought him, Garfield was indebted for 
the strength and practical knowledge which 
brought him safely through a campaign con- 
ducted against fearful odds. 

His country was not ungrateful. He received 
the thanks of the commanding general for serv- 



232 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

ices which " called into action the highest quali- 
ties of a soldier — fortitude, perseverance, cour- 
ao-e ," and a few weeks later a commission as 
bngadier-general of volunteers, to date from the 
battle of Middle Creek, 

So Jim Garlield, the canal-boy, has become a 
general. It is an important step upward, but 
where are others to come ? 

If this were designed to be a complete biog- 
raphy of General Garfield, I should feel it my 
duty to chronicle the important part he took in 
the battle of Chickamauga, where he acted as 
chief of staff to General Rosecranz, aiding his 
superior officer at a most critical point in the bat- 
tle by advice which had an important influence 
in saving the day. I should like to describe the 
wonderful and perilous ride of three miles which 
he took, exposing his life at every moment, to 
warn General Thomas that he is out-flanked, and 
that at least seventy thousand men are closing 
down upon his right wing, to crush hii twenty- 
five thousand to fragments. Sometimes I hope a 
poet, of fitting inspiration, will sing of that ride, 
and how, escaping from shot and shell, he plunged 
down the hill through the fiery storm, reaching 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 233 

Thomas in safety, though his noble horse at that 
moment fell dead at his feet. I can not spare 
time for the record, but must refer my young 
reader to the pages of Edmund Kirke, or General 
James S. Brisbin. 

Other duties, and another important field of 
action, await Garfield, and we must hurry on. 
But, before doing so, I must not fail to record 
that the War Department, recognizing his im- 
portant services at the battle of Chickamauga, sent 
him a fortnight later the commission of a major- 
general. 



CHAPTER XXYL 

THE 'CANAL-BOY BECOMES A CONGKESSMAN. 

While Garfield was serving his coimtry to the 
utmost of his ability in the field, the voters of the 
ISTineteeuth District of Ohio, in which he had his 
home, were called upon to select a man to repre- 
sent them m Congress. It perhaps exceeds any 
other portion of the State in its devotion to the 
cause of education and the general intelligence of 
its inhabitants. The people were mostly of E'ew 
/England origin, and in selecting a representative 
they wanted a man who was fitted by edacation, 
as well as fidelity, to do them credit. 

Their choice fell upon Garfield, who was known 
to them at home as the head of one of their chief 
institutions of learning, and whose reputation had 
not suifered in the field. They did not even cour 
suit him, but put him in nomination, and elected 
him by an overwhelming majority. 

It was a gratifying compliment, for in our 
(234) 



JAMKS A. GARFIELD. 235 

countrv an election to Congress is regarded as a 
high honor, which no one need be reluctant to 
accept. We have on record one of our most distin- 
guished statesmen — John Quincy Adams — who, 
after tilling the Presidential chair, was content to 
go back to Washington as a member of the House 
of Eepresentatives from his district in Massa- 
chusetts. It was undoubtedly more in harmony 
with the desires and tastes of the young man — for 
he was still a young man — than service in the 
field. But he felt that that was not the question. 
Where was he more needed ? The war was not 
over. Indeed, it seemed doubtful when it would 
be finished ; and Garfield was now in a position 
to serve his country well as a military com- 
mander. 

When on the march to Chattanooga, Garfield 
consulted Gen. Rosecranz, owning that he was 
perplexed in attempting to decide. 

Iiosecranz said : "The war is not yet over, nor 
will it be for some time to come. Many ques- 
tions will arise in Congress which will require not 
only statesman-like treatment, but the advice of 
men having an acquaintance with military affairs. 
For that reason you will, I think, do as good 



236 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

service to the country in Congress as in the field. 
1 not only think that you can accept the position 
with honor, but that it is your duty to do it." 

He added, and we may be sure that his advice 
accorded with the personal judgment of the man 
whom he was addressing, " Be true to yourself, 
and you will make your mark before your 
country." 

- Some months were to elapse before he would 
require to go to Washington, for Congress was 
not to meet till December. 

He went to Washington, undecided even yet 
whether to remain as a legislator, or to return to 
his old comrades in the army. He only wished 
to know where he could be of most service to his 
country, and he finally decided to lay the matter 
before President Lincoln. 

Lincoln gave substantially the same advice as 
Kosecranz: *'We need men who will help us 
carry the necessary war measures; and, besides, 
we are greatly lacking in men of military expe- 
rience in the House to promote legislation about 
the army. It is your duty, therefore, to enter 
Congress." 

When, on the 5th of December, 1863, Garfield 



JAMBS A. GARFIELD. 237 

took his seat in the House of Representatives, he 
was the youngest member of that body. The 
Military Committee was the most important com- 
mittee of Congress, and he was put upon that, on 
account of his practical experience in the field. 
This, of course, brought him, though a new and 
young member, into immediate prominence, and 
his familiarity with the wants of the army enabled 
him to be of great service. 

I do not propose to detail at tiresome length 
the legislative achievements of Gen. Gai-field in 
the new position which he was destined to fill for 
eighteen years. I shall only refer to such as 
illustrate his characteristic devotion to duty with- 
out special regard to his own interests. He never 
hesitated to array himself in opposition to the 
popular will, if he thought the people were 
wrong. It was not long before an occasion 
came up which enabled him to assert his inde- 
pendence. 

The country needed soldiers, and had in- 
augurated a system of bounties which should 
tempt men to join the ranks of the country's de- 
fenders. It was only a partial success. Some 
men, good and true, were led to join by the offer 



238 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

of a sum which inade them more at case about 
the comfort of tlieir families, but many joined 
the service from mercenary considerations only, 
who seized the first opportunity to desert, and 
turning up m another locality, enlisted ao-ain and 
obtained a second bounty. These men obtained 
the name of bounty-jumpers, and there was a host 
of them. Yet the measure was popular with sol 
diers, and Congress was unanimously in favor of 
it. Great was the amazement of his fellow- 
members when the young member from the 
Nineteenth Ohio district rose in his seat and 
earnestly opposed it. He objected that the policy 
was ruinous, involving immense expense, while 
effecting little good. He claimed that the country 
had a right to the service of every one of its chil- 
dren at such a crisis, without hire and without 
reward. 

But one man stood with him, so unpopular 
was the stand he had taken ; but it was not long 
before tlie l)ounty system broke down, and Gar- 
field's views were adopted. 

Later on he had another chance to show his 
independence. President Lincoln, foreseeing that 
at a certain date not far ahead the time of enlist- 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 239 

ment of nearly half the army would expire, came 
before Congress and asked for power to draft 
men into s'ervice. It met with great opposition. 
" What I force men into the Held ! Why, we 
might as well live under a despotism ! " exclaimed 
many ; and the members of Congress, who knew 
how unpopular the measure would be among their 
constituents, defeated it by a two thirds vote. 

It was a critical juncture. As Lincoln had 
said in substance, all military operations would 
be checked. ^tsTot only could not the war be 
pushed, but the Government could not stand 
where it did. Sherman would have to come back 
from Atlanta, Grant from the Peninsula. 

The voting was over, and the Government was 
despondent. Then it was that Garfield rose, and 
moving a reconsideration, made a speech full of 
fire and earnestness, and the House, carried by 
storm, passed the bill, and President Lincoln 
made a draft for half a million men. 

Garfield knew that this action would be un- 
popular in his district. It might defeat his re- 
election ; but that mattered not. The President 
had been assailed by the same argument, and had 
answered, " Gentlemen, it is not necessary that I 



240 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

should be reelected, but it is necessary that I should 
put down this rebellion." With this declaration 
the young Congressman heartily sympathized. 

Remonstrances did come from his district 
Several of his prominent supporters addressed 
him a letter, demanding his resignation. He 
wrote them that he had acted according to his 
Views of the needs of the country ; that he was 
sorry his judgment did not agree with theirs, but 
that he must follow his own. He expected to 
live long' enough to have them all confess that he 
was right. 

It was about this time that he made his cele- 
brated reply to Mr. Alexander Long, of Ohio, 
a fellow- Cc)ngressman, who proposed to yield 
everything and to recognize the Southern Con- 
federacy. 

The excitement was intense. In the midst of 
it Garfield rose and made the following speech : 

** Mk. Chairman," he said, " I am reminded by 
the occurrences of this afternoon of two characters 
in the war of the Revolution as compared with 
two others in the war of to-day. 

"Thefii-stwas Lord Fairfax, who dwelt near 
the Potomac, a few miles from us. When the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. nt-t 

great contest was opened between tlie mother 
country and the colonies, Lord Fairfax, after a 
protracted struggle with his own heart, decided 
he must go with the mother coimtrj. He gath- 
ered his mantle about him and went over grandly 
and solemnly. 

" There was another man, who cast in his lot 
with the struggling colonists, and continued with 
them till the war was well-nigh ended. In an 
hour of darkness that just preceded the glory of 
the morning, he hatched the treason to surrender 
forever all that had been gained to the enemies 
of his country. Benedict Arnold was that man ! 
" Fairfax and Arnold find their parallels of to- 
day. 

" When this war began many good men stood 
hesitating and doubting what they ought to do. 
Eobert E. Lee sat in his house across the river 
here, doubting and delaying, and going off at last 
almost tearfuUy to join the army of his State. 
He reminds one in some respects of Lord Fairfax, 
the stately Eoyalist of the Eevolution. 

"But now when tens of thousands of brave 
Bouls have gone up to God under the shadow of 
the flag ; when thousands more, maimed and shat- 
i6 



242 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

tered in tlie contest, are sadly awaiting the deliv- 
erance of death ; now, when three years of terrific 
warfare have raged over us ; when onr armies 
have pushed the Rebellion back over mountains 
and rivers, and crowded it into narrow limits, un- 
til a wall of fire girds it ; now when the uplifted 
hand of a majestic people is about to hurl the 
bolts of its conquering power upon the Rebellion ; 
now, in the quiet of this hall, hatched in the low- 
est depths of a similar dark treason, there rises a 
Benedict Arnold, and proposes to surrender all 
up, body and spirit, the nation and the flag, its 
genius and its honor, now and forever, to the ac- 
cursed traitors to our country ! And that propo- 
sition comes— God forgive and pity our beloved 
State — it conies from a citizen of the time-honored 
and loyal commonwealth of Ohio ! 

" 1 implore you, brethren in this House, to be- 
lieve that not many births ever gave pangs to my 
mother State such as she suffered when that traitor 
was bom ! I beg you not to believe that on the 
soil of that State another such a growth has ever 
deformed the face of nature, and darkened the 
light of God's day!" 



CHAPTEE XXYIL 



If Garfield at once took a prominent place in 
the House of Representatives, it was by no means 
because it was composed of inferior men. On tbe 
other hand, there has seldom been a time when it 
contained a larger number of men either promi- 
nent, or destined in after days to be prominent. 
I avail myself of the detailed account given of i*.s 
members by Major Bmidy, in his excellent Life 
of Garfield. There are some names which will 
be familiar to most of my young readers : 

" Its then most fortunate and promising mem- 
ber was Schuyler Colfax, the popular Speaker. 
But there were three young members who were 
destined to a more lasting promhicnce. The se- 
nior of these who had enjoyed previous service in 
the House, was Roscoe Conkling, already recog- 
nized by Congress and the count ly as a magnifi- 
cent and convincing speaker. The other two 

(243) 



244 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

were James G. Blaine and James A. Garfield. 
Only a year the senior of Garfield, Blaine was 
about to begin a career as brilliant as that of 
Henry Clay, and the acquisition of a popularity 
unique in om* political history. But in this Con- 
gress there were many members whose power 
was far greater than that of either of the trio, who 
may yet be as much compared as Clay, "Webster, 
and Calhoun were in former days. 

" In the first place, there was Elihu B. Wash- 
burne, ' the watch-dog of the treasury,' the ' father 
of the House,' courageous, practical, direct, and 
aggressive. Then there was Thaddeus Stevens, 
who was one of the very few men capable of 
driving his party associates — a character as 
unique as, and far stronger than, John Randolph ; 
General Eobert C. Schenck, fresh from the army, 
but a veteran in Congress, one of the ablest of 
practical statesmen ; ex-Governor Boutwell, of 
Massachusetts ; ex-Governor Fenton, of New 
York, a very influential member, especially on 
financial questions ; Henry Winter Davis, the 
brilliant orator, of Maryland ; William B. Alli- 
son, since one of the soundest and most useful of 
Iowa's Senators; Henry L. Dawes, who fairly 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 245 

earned his promotion to the Senate, but who ac- 
complished so much in the House that his best 
friends regret the transfer; John A. Bingham, 
one of the most famous speakers of his time; 
James E. English, of Connecticut, who did val- 
iant and patriotic service as a War Democrat; 
George H. Pendleton, now Senator from Ohio, 
and a most accomplished statesman, even in his 
early service in the House ; Henry G. Stebbins, 
who was to make a speech sustaining Mr. Chase's 
financial policy that was unequaled for its salu- 
tary effect on public opinion ; Samuel J. Kandall, 
now Speaker ; John A. Griswold, of New York ; 
William Windom, one of the silent members, who 
has grown steadily in power ; James F. Wilson, 
who was destined to decline three'successive offers 
of Cabinet positions by President Grant ; Daniel 
W. Yoorhies, of Indiana, now Senator; John A. 
Kasson, of Iowa, now our Minister to Austria; 
Theodore M. Pomeroy, of IS'ew York, afterward 
Acting Speaker for a brief period; William R. 
Morrison, of Illinois, since a Democratic candi- 
date for the Presidency ; William S. Holman and 
George W. Julian, of Indiana, both able men ; 
and Fernando Wood — these were all prominent 



246 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

members of the House. It will be seen that the 
House was a more trying arena for a young mem- 
ber like Giirfield than the Senate would have 
been ; for the contests of the former — unsubdued 
and unmitigated by ' the courtesy of the Senate ' 
— were conducted by as ready and able a corps of 
debaters as ever sat in that body." 

This was surely a formidable array of men, and 
a man of ordinary powers would have found it 
prudent to remain silent during the first session, 
lest he should be overwhelmed by some one of 
the ready speakers and experienced legislators 
with whom he was associated. But the canal- 
boy, who had so swiftly nsen from his humble 
position to the post of college president and ma- 
jor-general, till at the age of thirty-two he sat in 
the national council the youngest member, was 
not daunted. Ris term of service as State Sena- 
tor was now of use to him, for it had given him 
a knowledge of parliamentary law, and the prac- 
tice in speaking which he gained long ago in the 
l)oys' debating societies, and extended in college, 
rendered him easy and master of himself. 

Indeed he could not remain silent, for he rep- 
resented the " boys at the front," and whenever a 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



247 



measure was proposed affecting their interests, he 
was expected to take part in the debate. It was 
not long before the House found that its new 
member was a man of grace and power, with 
whom it was not always safe to measure weapons. 
He was inclined to be peaceful, but he was not 
willing to permit any one to domineer over him, 
and the same member did not often attempt it a 
second time. 

Mj young readers are sure to admire pluck, 
and they will, therefore, read with interest of one 
such occasion, when Garfield effectually quelled 
such an attempt. 1 iind it in a chapter of remi- 
niscences contributed to the Boston Journal, by 
Ben Perley Poore, the well-known correspond- 
ent: 

" When the Jenckes Bankrupt Bill came before 
the House, Gen. Garfield objected to it, because 
in his opinion it did not provide that the estates 
of rebels in arms should escape the operations of 
the law. He also showed that money was being 
raised to secure the enactment of the bill, and 
Mr. Spalding, of the Cleveland district, was 
prompted by Mr. Jenckes to ' sit down on him.' 
^ut Gen. Garfield was not to be silenced easily 



248 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

and quite a scene ensued. The next day Garfield 
rose to a personal explanation, aid said : 

" ' I made no pei^onal reference whatever ; I 
assailed no gentleman ; I called no man's honor 
in question. My colleague from the Cleveland 
district (Mr. Spalding) rose and asked if I had 
read the bill. I answered him, I believe, in cour- 
teous language and manner, that I had read it, 
and immediately on my statement to that effect 
he said in his place in the House, and it has gone 
on the record, that he did not believe I had read 
it ; in other words, that he believed I had lied, in 
the presence of my peers in this House. I felt, 
under such circumstances, that it would not be 
becoming my self-respect, or the respect I owe to 
the House, to continue a colloquy with any gen- 
tleman who had thus impeached my veracity, 
and I said so. 

" * It pains me very much that a gentleman of 
venerable age, who was in full maturity of life 
when I was a child, and whom I have respected 
since my childhood, should have taken occasion 
here in this place to use language so uncalled for, 
so ungenerous, so unjust to me, and disgraceful 
to himself. I have borne with the ill-nature and 



JAMES A. OARFIELD. 249 

bad blood of that gentleman, as many others in 
this House have, out of respect for his years ; but 
no importunity of age shall shield him, or any 
man, from my denunciation, who is so lacking in 
the proprieties of tliis place as to be guilty of 
such parliamentary and personal indecency as the 
House has witnessed on his part. I had hoped 
that before this time he would have acknowledged 
to me the impropriety and unjustifiableness of his 
conduct and apologized for the insult. But he 
has not seen fit to take this course. I leave him 
to his own reflections, and his conduct to the 
judgment of the House.' '' 

Those who listened to these spirited rebukes 
saw that the young member from Ohio would not 
allow himself to be snubbed or insulted with im- 
punity, and the few who were accustomed to de- 
scend to such discourtesy took warning accordingly. 
They were satisfied that Garfield, to quote a com- 
mon phrase, would give them as good as they 
sent, and perhaps a little better. The boy, who 
at sixteen, when employed on the tow-path, 
thrashed the bully of thirty-five for insulting him, 
was not likely in his manhood to submit to the 
insults of a Congressional bully. He was a man 



250 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

to compel respect, and had that resolute and per- 
sistent character which was likely ere long to make 
him a leader. So Disraeli, coughed down in his 
first attempt to speak before the English House of 
Commons, accepted the situation, but recorded 
the prediction that one day they would hear him. 
He, too, mounted step by step till he reached the 
highest position in the English Government out- 
side of royalty. A man who is destined to be 
great is only strengthened by opposition, and 
rises in the end victorious over circumstances. 

Garfield soon made it manifiest that he had 
come to Washington to work. He was not one 
to lie back and enjoy in idleness the personal con- 
sequence which his position gave him. All his 
life he had been a worker, and a hard worker, 
from the time when he cut one hundred cords of 
wood, at twenty-five cents a cord, all through his 
experience as a canal-boy, a carpenter, a farm- 
worker, a janitor, a school teacher, a student, and 
a military commander, and now that he had taken 
his place in the grand council of the nation, he 
was not going to begin a hfe of self-indulgent 
idleness. 

In consideration of his military reco 'd he was, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 251 

at his entrance into Congress, put upon tlie Mili- 
tary Committee ; but a session or two later, at liis 
own request, he was assigned a place on the Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means. His reason for this 
request was, that he might have an opportunity 
of studying the question of finance, w^hich he had 
sufiicient foresight to perceive would one day be a 
great question, overshadowing all others. He in- 
stantly set himself to a systematic and exhaustive 
study of this subject, and attained so thorough a 
knowledge of it that he was universally recognized 
as a high authority — perhaps the highest in the 
department. He made speech after speech on the 
finance question, and was a pronounced advocate 
of " Honest Money," setting his face like a fiinfc 
against those who advocated any measures calcu- 
lated to lower the national credit or tarnish the 
national reputation for good faith. 

" I am aware," said he one day in debate, " that 
financial measures are dull and uninviting in com- 
parison with those heroic themes which have ab- 
sorbed the attention of Congress for the last ^yq 
years. To turn from the consideration of armies 
and navies, victories and defeats, to the array of 
figures which exhibits the debt, expenditure, tax- 



252 JAMES A. OARFIELD. 

ation, and industry of the nation requires no little 
courage and self-denial; but to these questions 
we must come, and to their solution Congress and 
all thoughtful citizens must give their best efforts 
for many years to come." 

It was not only a wise but a bold thing to do, 
for among the members of his own party, in Ohio, 
financial heresies had crept in, and a party plat- 
form was adopted in 1867, looking to the pay- 
ment of the bonds of the Government in green- 
backs. He was advised to say nothing on the 
subject lest it should cost him the nomination in 
the election just at hand ; but he met the question 
boldly, and declared that the district could only 
have his services " on the ground of the honest 
payment of this debt, and these bonds in coin, 
according to the letter and spirit of the contract." 

ITevertheless he was renominated by acclama- 
tion. 



CHAPTER XXYIIL 

THE MAN FOK THE HOUR. 

On the 15tli day of April, 1865, the coimti^ 
was thrilled from end to end by the almost in- 
credible report that President Lincoln had been 
assassinated the evening previous while witness- 
ing a performance at Ford's Theatre, in Wash- 
ington. 

The war was not yet over, but peace seemed 
close at hand. All were anticipating its return 
with joy. The immense sacrifices of loyal men 
seemed about to be rewarded when, like a clap of 
thunder in a clear sky, came the terrible tidings, 
which were flashed at once over the telegraphic 
wires to the remotest parts of the country. 

The people at first were shocked and silent. 
Then a mighty wave of wrath swept over the 
country — a wrath that demanded victims, and 
seemed likely in the principal city of the coun- 
try to precipitate scenes not unlike those wit- 
nessed in the *" Eeign of Terror " in France. 

(253) 



254 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

The Doys wlio read this story can not under- 
stand the excitement of that day» It was nnlike 
the deep sorrow that came npon ns all on the 
second of July, for Lincoln died a martyr, at a 
time when men's passions had been stirred by 
sectional strife, and his mnrder was felt to be an 
ontgrowth of the passions which it engendered ; 
but Garfield fell, slain by the hand of a worthless 
wretch, acting upon his own responsibility. 

I shall venture, for the information of young 
readers, to whom it may be new, to quote the 
graphic description of an eye-witness, contributed 
to General Brisbin's interesting life of our sub- 
ject : 

" I shall never forget the first time I saw Gen- 
eral Garfield. It was the morning after President 
Lincoln's assassination. The country was excited 

to its utmost tension The newspaper 

head lines of the transaction were set up in the 
largest type, and the high crime was on every 
one's tongue. Fear took possession of men's 
minds as to the fate of the Government, for in a 
few hours the news came on that Seward's throat 
was cut, and that attempts had been made on the 
lives of others of the Government olficers. Post- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 255 

ers were stuck up everywhere, in great black let- 
ters, calling upon the loyal citizens of Kew York, 
Brooklyn, Jersey City, and neighboring places, 
to meet around the Wall Street Exchange and 
give expression to their sentiments. 

" It was a dark and terrible hour. What mi^ht 
come next no one could tell, and men spoke with 
bated breath. The wrath of the workingmen 
was simply uncontrollable, and revolvers and 
knives were in the hands of thousands of Lin- 
coln's friends, ready, at the first opportunity, to 
take the law into their own hands, and avenge 
the death of their martyred President upon any 
and all who dared to utter a word against him. 

" Eleven o'clock a. m. was the hour set for the 
rendezvous. Fifty thousand people crowded 
around the Exchange building, cramming and jam- 
ming the streets, and wedged in as tight as men 
could stand together. With a few to whom spe- 
cial favor was extended, I went over from Brook- 
lyn at nine A. m., and even then, with the utmost 
difficulty, found my way to the reception room for 
the speakers in the front of the Exchange building, 
and looking out on the high and massive balcony, 
whose front was protected by a massive iron railing. 



256 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" "We sat in solemnity and silence, waiting for 
General Butler, who, it was announced, had started 
from Washington, and was either already in the 
city or expected every moment, l^early a hun- 
dred generals, judges, statesmen, lawyers, editors, 
clergymen, and others were in that room waiting 
for Butler's arrival. 

" We stepped out to the balcony to watch the 
feai-fully solemn and swaying mass of people. 
l^ot a hurrah was heard, but for the most part a 
dead silence, or a deep, ominous muttering ran 
like a rising wave up the street toward Broadway, 
and again down toward the river on the right. 
At length the batons of the police were seen 
swinging in the air, far up on the left, parting 
the crowd, and pressing it back to make way for 
a carriage that moved slowly, and with difficult 
jags through the compact multitude, and the cry 
of ' Butler ! ' ' Butler! ' rang out with tremend- 
ous and thrilling effect, and was taken up by the 
people. 

" But not a hurrah ! ]^ot one ! It was the cry 
of a great people asking to know how their 
President died. The blood bounced in our veins, 
and the tears ran like streams down our faces. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 257 

How it was done I forget, but Butler was pulled 
through, and pulled up, and entered the room 
where we had just walked back to meet him. A 
broad crape, a yard long, hung from his left arm 
— terrible contrast with the countless flags that 
were waving the nation's victory in the breeze. 
We first realized then the sad news that Lincoln 
was dead. When Butler entered the room we 
shook hands. Some spoke, some could not; all 
were in tears. The only word Butler had for us 
all, at the first break of the silence was, ' Gentle- 
men^ he died in the fullness of his fame ! ' and as 
he spoke it his lips quivered, and the tears ran 
fast down his cheeks. 

*-' Then, after a few moments, came the speak- 
ing. And you can imagine the effect, as the 
crape fluttered in the wind while his arm was up- 
lifted. Dickinson, of Kew York State, was fairly 
wild. The old man leaped over the iron railing 
of the balcony and stood on the very edge, over- 
hanging the crowd, gesticulating in the most ve- 
hement manner, and almost bidding the crowd 
' burn up the rebel, seed, root, and branch,' while 
a bystander held on to his coat-tail to keep him 
from falling over. 
17 



258 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

"By tliis time the wave of popular indignation 
had swelled to its crest. Two men lay bleeding 
on one of the side streets, the one dead, the other 
next to dying ; one on the pavement, the other in 
the gutter. They had said a moment before that 
* Lincoln ought to have been shot long ago ! ' 
They were not allowed to say it again. Soon two 
long pieces of scantling stood out above the heads 
of the crowd, crossed at the top like the letter X, 
and a looped halter pendant from the junction, a 
dozen men following its slow motion through the 
masses, while ' Yengeance ' was the ciy. 

" On the right suddenly the shout arose, ' The 
World! ' ' The World! ' and a movement of per- 
haps eight thousand to ten thousand turning their 
faces in the direction of that building began to 
be executed. 

" It was a critical moment. What might come 
no one could tell, did that crowd get in front of 
that office ; police and military would have availed 
little, or been too late. A telegram had just been 
read from Washington, ' Seward is dying ! ' Just 
then, at that juncture, a man stepped forward 
with a small flag in his hand and beckoned to the 
crowd. 



JAMl'JS A. QAnFIELB. 259 

*' ^ Another telegram from Washington ! ' 

" And then, in the awful stillness of the crisis, 
taking advantage of the hesitation of the crowd, 
whose steps had been arrested a moment, a right 
arm was lifted skyward, and a voice, clear and 
steady, loud and distinct, spoke out : 

" ' Fellow-citizens ! Clouds and darkness are 
round about Him ! His pavilion is dark waters, 
and thick clouds of the skies ! Justice and judg- 
ment are the establishment of His throne ! Mercy 
and truth shall go before His face ! Fellow-citi- 
zens ! God reigns and the Government at Wash- 
ington still lives ! ' 

" The effect was tremendous. The crowd stood 
rooted to the ground with awe, gazing at the 
motionless orator, and thinking of God and the 
security of the Government in that hour. As the 
boiling waters subside and settle to the sea, when 
some strong wind beats it down, so the tumult of 
the people sank and became still. All took it as 
a divine omen. It was a triumph of eloquence, 
inspired by the moment, such as falls to but one 
man's lot, and that but once in a century. The 
genius of Webster, Choate, Everett, Seward, 
never reached it. What might have happened 



260 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

had tlie surging and maddened mol) been let 
loose, none can tell. The man for the crisis was 
on the spot, more potent than E'apoleon's guns at 
Paris. I inquired what was his name. 

" The answer came in a low whisper, ' It is 
General Garfield, of Ohio.' " 

It was a most dramatic scene, and a wonderful 
exhibition of the power of one man of intellect 
over a furious mob. 

How would the thrilling intensity of the mo- 
ment have been increased, had some prophet, 
standirg beside the inspired speaker, predicted 
that a little more than sixteen years later he who 
had calmed the crowd would himseK fall a victim 
to violence, while filling the same high post as 
the martyred Lincoln. Well has it been said that 
the wildest dream of the romancer pales beside 
the solemn surprise of the Actual, l^ot one among 
the thousands there assembled, not the speaker 
himself, would have considered such a statement 
within the range of credibility. Alas, that it 
should have been ! — that the monstrous murder of 
the good Lincoln should have been repeated in 
these latter days, and the nation have come a 
second time a mourner ! 



JAMES A. OARFIELD. 261 

Will it be believed that Garfield's arrival and 
his speech had been quite accidental, though we 
must also count it as Providential, since it stayed 
' the wild excesses of an infuriated mob. He had 
only ari'ived from Washington that morning, and 
after brealvfast had strolled through the crowded 
streets, in entire ignorance of the great gathering 
at the Exchange building. 

He turned down Broadway, and when he saw 
the great concourse of people, he kept on, to learn 
what had brought them together. Butler was 
speaking when he arrived, and a friend who 
recognized him beckoned him to come up there, 
above the heads of the multitude. 

When he heard the wild cries for "Yengeance !" 
and noticed the swaying, impassioned movements 
of the crowd, he saw the danger that menaced the 
public order, and in a moment of inspiration he 
rose, and with a gesture challenged the attention 
of the crowd. What he said he could not liave 
told five minutes afterward. " I only know," he 
said afterward, " that I drew the lightning from 
that crowd, and brought it back to reason." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

GAEFIELD AS A LAWYER. 

lii the crowded activities of Garfield's life, my 
r^^ders may possibly have forgotten that he was 
a lawyer, having, after a course of private study 
during his presidency of Hiram College, been ad- 
mitted to the bar, in 1861, by the Supreme Court 
of Ohio. When the war broke out he was about 
to withdraw from his position as teacher, and go 
into practice in Cleveland; but, as a Roman 
writer has expressed it, "Inter arma silent 
leges." So law gave way to arms, and the in- 
cipient lawyer became a general. 

When the soldier put off his armor it was to 
enter Congress, and instead of practicing law, 
Garfield helped to frame laws. 

But in 1865 there came an extraordinary occa^ 

sion, which led to the Ohio Congressman entering 

upon his long delayed profession. And here I 

quote from the work of Major Bundy, already 
(2G2) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



263 



referred to : " About that time that great lawyer, 
Judge Jeremiah S. Black, as the attorney of the 
Ohio Democrats who had been opposing the war, 
came to his friend Garfield, and said that there 
were some men imprisoned in Indiana for con- 
spiracy against the Government in trying to pre- 
vent enhstments and to encourage desertion. 
They had been tried in 1864, while the war was 
going on, and by a military commission sitting in 
Indiana, where there was no war, they had been 
sentenced to death. Mr. Lincoln commuted the 
sentence to imprisonment for life, and they were 
put into State's prison in accordance with the 
commutation. They then took out a writ of 
habeas corpus, to test the constitutionality and 
legality of their trial, and the judges in the Circuit 
Court had disagreed, there being two of them, 
and had certified their disagreement to the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. Judge Black 
said to Garfield that he had seen what Garfield had 
said in Congress, and asked him if he was willino- 
to say in an argument in the Supreme Com-t what 
he had advocated in Congress. 

" To which Garfield replied : ' It depends on 
your case altogether.' 



264 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" Judge Black sent him the facts in the case — ■ 
the record. 

" Garfield read it over, and said : ' I believe in 
"* that doctrine.' 

" To which Judge Black replied : ' Toung man, 
you know it is a perilous thing for a young Ee- 
publican in Congress to say that, and I don't want 
you to injure yourself.' 

" Said Garfield : ' It does not make any differ- 
ence. I believe in English liberty, and English 
law. But, Judge Black, I am not a practitioner 
in the Supreme Court, and I never tried a case in 
my life anywhere.' 

'' ' How long ago were you admitted to the 
bar ? ' asked Judge Black. 

" ' Just about six years age.' 

" ' That will do,' Black replied, and he took 
Garfield thereupon over to the Supreme Court 
and moved his admission. 

^ " He immediately entered upon the considera- 
tion of this important case. On the side of the 
Government was arrayed a formidable amount of 
legal talent. The Attorney-General was aided 
by Gen. Butler, who was called in on account of 
Lis military knowledge, and by Henry Stanbury. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



265 



Associated with Gen. Gariield as counsel for the 
petitioners were two of the greatest lawyers in 
the countrj—Judge Black and Hon. David 
Dudley Field, and the Hon. John E. McDonald, 
now Senator from Indiana. The argument sub- 
mitted by Gen. Garfield was one of the most re- 
markable ever made before the Supreme Court of 
the United States, and was made nnder circum- 
stances peculiarly creditable to Garfield's courage, 
independence, and resolute devotion to the cause 
of constitutional liberty— a devotion not inspired 
by wild dreams of political promotion, for at that 
time it was dangerous for any young Eepublican 
Congressman to defend the constitutional rights 
of men known to be disloyal, and rightly despised 
and hated for their disloyal practices." 

I refer any of my maturer readers who may 
desire an abstract of the young lawyer's masterly 
and convincing argument, to Major Bundy's val- 
uable work, which necessarily goes more deeply 
into, such matters than the scope of my slighter 
work will admit. His argument was listened to 
vAta high approval by his distinguished associate 
counsel, and the decision of the Supreme Court 
was given unanimously in favor of his clients. 



266 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Surely this was a most valuable dtbut, and 
Garfield is probably the first lawyer that ever 
tried his first case before that august tribunal. 
It was a triumph, and gave him an immediate 
reputation and insured him a series of important 
cases before the same court. I have seen it stated 
that he was employed in seventeen cases before 
tlie Supreme Court, some of large importance, 
and bringing him in large fees. But for his first 
case he never received a cent. His clients were 
poor and in prison, and he was even obliged to 
pay for printing his own brief. His future 
earnings from this source, however, added mate- 
rially to his income, and enabled him 'to install 
his family in that cherished home at Mentor, 
which has become so familiar by name to the 
American people. 

I can not dwell upon Garfield's experience as a 
lawyer. I content myseK with quoting, from a 
letter addressed by Garfield to his close friend, 
President Hinsdale, of Hiram College, the ac- 
count of a case tried in Mobile, which illus- 
trates his wonderful industry and remarkable 
resources. 

Under date of June 13, 1877, Garfield writes: 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 267 

"You know that mj life has abounded in crises 
and difficult situations. This trip has been, per- 
haps, not a crisis, but certainly has placed me in 
a position of extreme difficulty. Two or three 
months ago, W. B. Duncan, a prominent business 
man in New York, retained me as his lawyer in 
a suit to be heard in the United States Court in 
Mobile, and sent me the papers in the case. I 
studied them, and found that they involved an 
important and somewhat difficult question of law, 
and I made myself sufficiently familiar with it, 
so that when Duncan telegraphed me to be in 
Mobile on the first Monday in June, I went with 
a pretty comfortable sense of my readiness to 
meet anybody who should be employed on the 
other side. But when I reached Mobile, I found 
there were two other suits connected with this, 
and involving the ownership, sale, and complicated 
rights of several parties to the Mobile and Ohio 
Railroad. 

"After two days' skirmishing, the court or- 
dered the three suits to be consolidated. The 
question I had prepared myself on passed wholly 
out of sight, and the whole entanglement of an 
insolvent railroad, twenty-five years old, and 



238 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

lying across four States, and costing $20,000,0v)0, 
came upon us at once. There were seven lawyers 
in the case besides me. On one side were John 
A. Campbell, of ]^ew Orleans, late member of 
the Supreme Bench of the United States ; a lead- 
ing E'ew York and a Mobile lawyer. Against us 
were Judge Hoadley, of Cincinnati, and several 
Southern men. I was assigned the duty of sum- 
ming up the case for our side, and answering the 
final argument of the opposition. I have never 
felt myself in such danger of failure before, all 
had so much better knowledge of the facts than 
I, and all had more experience with that class of 
litigation; but I am very sure no one of them 
did so much hard work, in the five nights and six 
days of the trial, as 1 did. I am glad to tell you 
that I have received a dispatch from Mobile, that 
the court adopted my view of the case, and gave 
us a verdict on all points." 

Who can doubt, after reading of these two 
cases, that had Garfield devoted himself to the 
practice of the law exclusively, he would have 
made one of the most successful members of the 
profcission in the country, perhaps risen to the 
highest rank ? As it was, he was only able to de- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 269 

vote the time lie could spare from his legislative 
labors. 

These increased as years sped. On the retire- 
ment of James G. Blaine from the lower House 
of Congress, the leadership of his party devolved 
upon Garfield. It was a post of honor, but it 
imposed upon him a vast amount of labor. He 
must qualify himself to speak, not superficiall}^, 
but from adequate knowledge upon ail points of 
legislation, and to defend the party with which 
he was allied from all attacks of political oppo- 
nents. 

On this subject he writes, April 21, 1880: 
" The position T hold in the House requires an 
enormous amount of surplus work. I am com- 
pelled to look ahead at questions likely to be 
sprung upon us for action, and the fact is, I pre- 
pare for debate on ten subjects where I actually 
take part in but one. For example, it seemed 
certain that the Fitz John Porter case would be 
discussed in the House, and I devoted the best of 
two weeks to a careful '- re-examination ' of the 
old material, and a study of the new. 

" There is now lying on top of my book-case a 
pile of bookS; revisions, and manuscripts, three 



270 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

feet long by a foot and a half high, which I ac- 
cumulated and examined for debate, which cer- 
tamlj will not come off this session, perhaps not 
at all. I must stand in the breach to meet what- 
ever comes. 

'^ I look forward to the Senate as at least a 
temporary relief from this heavy work. I am 
just now in antagonism with my own party on 
legislation in reference to the election law, and 
here also I have prepared for two discussions, and 
as yet have not spoken on either." 

My young readers will see that Garfield thor- 
oughly believed in hard work, and appreciated \i\'s 
necessity. It was the only way in which he could 
hold his commanding position. If he attained 
large success, and reached the highest dignity in 
the power of his countrymen to bestow, it is 
clear that he earned it richly. Upon some, acci- 
dent bestows rank; but not so with him. From 
his earliest years he was growing, rounding out, 
and developing, till he became the man he was. 
And had his life been spared to the usual span, it 
is not likely that he would have desisted, but 
ripened with years into perhaps the most pro- 
found and scholarly statesman the world has seen. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

THE SCHOLAR IN POLITICS. 

In the midst of his political and professional 
activity, Garfield never forgot his days of tranquil 
enjoyment at Hiram College, when he was 
devoted solely to the cultivation of his mind, and 
the extension of his knowledge. He still cherished 
the same tastes, and so far as his leisure — he had 
no leisure, save time snatched from the engrossing 
claims of politics — so far, at any rate, as he could 
manage the time, he employed it for new acquisi- 
tions, or for the review of his earlier studies. 

In January, 1874, he made a metrical version 

of the third ode of Horace's first book. I quote 

four stanzas : 

" Guide thee, O ship, on thy journey, that owest 
To Africa's shores Virgil trusted to thee. 
I pray thee restore him, in safety restore him, 
And saving him, save me the half of my soul. 

*' Stout oak and brass triple surrounded his bosom 
Who first to the waves of the merciless sea 

(371) 



272 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Committed his frail bark. He feared not Africa's 
Fierce battling the gales of the furious North. 

" Nor feared he the gloom of the rain-bearing Hyads, 
Nor the rage of fierce Notus, a tyrant than 'whom 
No storm-god that rules o'er the broad Adriatic 
Is mightier its billows to rouse or to calm. 

*' What form, or what pathway of death him affrighted 
Who faced with dry eyes monsters swimming the 

deep, 
Who gazed without fear on the storm-swollen bil- 
lows, 
And the lightning-scarred rocks, grim with death 
on the shore ? " 

In reviewing the work of the year 1874, he 
writes : '' So far as individual work is concerned, 
I have done something to keep aKve my tastes 
and habits. For example, since I left you I have 
made a somewhat thorough study of Goethe and 
his epoch, and have sought to build up in my 
iTiind a picture of the state of literature and art 
in Europe, at the period when Goethe began to 
work, and the state when he died. I have 
grouped the various poets into order, so as to pre- 
serve memoirs of the impression made upon my 
mind by the wdiole. The sketch covers nearly 
sixty pages of manuscript. I think some work of 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 273 

this kind, outside the track of one's everj-day 
work, is necessary to keep np real growth." 

In July, 1875, he gives a list of works that he 
had read recently. Among these are several plays 
of Shakespeare, seven volumes of Fronde's En- 
gland, and a portion of Green's " History of the 
English People." He did not limit himself to 
English studies, but entered the realms of French 
and German literature, having made himself ac- 
quainted with both these languages. He made 
large and constant use of the Library of Congress. 
Probably none of his political associates made as 
much, with the exception of Charles Sumner. 

Major Bundy gives some interesting details as 
to his method of work, which I quote : " In all 
his official, professional, and literary work, Garfield 
has pursued a system that has enabled him to ac- 
cumulate, on a vast range and variety of sub- 
jects, an amount of easily available information 
such as no one else has shown the possession of 
by its use. His house at Washington is a work- 
shop, in which the tools are always kept within 
immediate reach. Although books overrun his 
house from top to bottom, his library contains the 
working material on which he mainly depends, 
i8 



274 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

And the amount of material is enormous. Large 
numbers of scrap-books that have been accumu- 
lating for over twenty years, in number and in 
value — made up with an eye to what either is, or 
may become, useful, which would render the col- 
lection of priceless value to the library of any 
first-class newspaper establishment — are so per- 
fectly arranged and indexed, that their owner, 
with his all-retentive memory, can turn in a mo- 
ment to the facts that may be needed for almost 
any conceivable emergency in debate. 

" These are supplemented by diaries that pre- 
serve Garfield's multifarous political, scientific, 
literary, and religious inquiries, studies, and read- 
ings. And, to make the machinery of rapid work 
complete, he has a large box containing sixty- 
three different drawers, each properly labeled, in 
which he places newspaper cuttings, documents, 
and slips of paper, and from which he can pull 
out what he wants as easily as an organist can play 
on the stops of his instrument. In other words, 
the hardest and most masterful worker in Con- 
gress has had the largest and most scientifically 
arranged of workshops." 

It was a pleasant house, this, which Garfield 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



275 



had made for himself in "Washington. With a 
devoted wife, who sympathized with him in hia 
literary tastes, and aided him in his preparation 
for his literary work, with live children (two 
boys now at Williams College, one daughter, and 
two younger sons), all bright and promising, with 
a liappy and joyous temperament that drew around 
him warmly-attached friends, with a mind contin- 
ually broadening and expanding in every direc- 
tion, respected and appreciated by his countrymen, 
and loved even by his political opponents, Gar- 
field's lot seemed and was a rarely happy one. 
He worked hard, but he had always enjoyed work. 
Higher honors seemed hoverhig in the air, but he 
did not make himself anxious about them. PIo 
enjoyed life, and did his duty as he went along, 
ready to undertake new responsibilities whenever 
they came, but by no means impatient for higher 
honors. 

Filling an honored place in the household is 
the white haired mother, who, with justifiable 
pride, has followed the fortunes of her son from 
his destitute boyhood, along the years in which 
he gained strength by battling with poverty and 
adverse circumstances, to the time when he fills 



276 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

the leading place in the councils of the nation. 
So steadily has he gone on, step by step, that she 
is jnstiiied in hoping for him higher honors. 

The time came, and he was elected to the 
United States Senate in place of Judge Thnrman, 
who had ably represented the State in the same 
body, and had been long regarded as one of the 
foremost leaders of the Democratic party. But his 
mantle fell upon no unworthy successor. Ohio was 
fortunate in possessing two such men to represent 
her in the highest legislative body of the nation. 

Doubtless this honor would have come sooner 
to Garfield, for in 1877 he was the candidate to 
whom all eyes were directed, but he could not be 
spared from the lower House, there being no one 
to take his place as leader. He yielded to the 
expressed wishes of President Hayes, who, in the 
exceptional position in which he found himself, 
felt the need of a strong and able man in the 
House, to sustain his administration and help 
3arry out the policy of the Government. Accus- 
tomed to yield his own interest to what he regarded 
as the needs of his country, Garfield quietly ac- 
quiesced in what to most men would have been a 
severe disappointment. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. cwrt 

But when, after the delay of four years, he was 
elected to the Senate, he accepted with a feeling 
of satisfaction— not so much because he was pro- 
moted as because, in his new sphere of usefulness, 
he would have more time for the gratification of 
his literary tastes. 

In a speech thanking the members of the 
General Assembly for their support, he said : 

''And now, gentlemen of the General As- 
sembly, without distinction of party, I recognize 
this tribute and compliment paid to me to-night. 
Whatever my own course may be in the future, 
a large share of the inspiration of my future pub- 
lic life will be drawn from this occasion and from 
these surroundings, and I shall feel anew the 
sense of obligation that I feel to the State of 
Ohio. Let me venture to point a single sentence 
in regard to that work. During the twenty years 
that I have been in public life, almost eighteen 
of it in the Congress of the United States, I have 
tried to do one thing. Whether I was mistaken 
or otherwise, it has been the plan of my life to 
follow my conviction at whatever cost to myself. 
" I have represented for many years a district 
in Congress whose approbation I greatly de- 



278 BOTSOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

sired ; but, thougli it may seem, perhaps, a little 
egotistical to say it, I yet desired still more the 
approbation of one person, and his name was 
Garfield. [Laughter and applause]. He is the 
only man that I am compelled to sleep with, and 
eat with, and live with, and die with ; and, if 1 
could not have his approbation, I should have had 
companionship. [Renewed laughter and ap- 
plause]. And in this larger constituency which 
has called me to represent them now, I can only 
do what is true to my best self, following the 
same rule. And if I should be so unfortunate as 
to lose the confidence of this larger constituency, 
I must do what every other fair-minded man has 
to do — carry his political life in his hand and take 
the consequences. But I must follow what seems 
to me to be the only safe rule of my life ; and 
with that view of the case, and with that much 
personal reference, I leave that subject." 

This speech gives the key-note of Garfield's 
political action. More than once he endangered 
his re-election and hazarded his political future by 
running counter to what he knew to be the wishes 
of his constituents and his party ; but he would 
never allow himself to be a slave to party, or wear 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 279 

the yoke of political expediency. He sought, 
first of all, to win the approval of his own con- 
science and his own sense of right, and then he 
was willing to " take the consequences," even if 
they were serious enough to cut short the brilliant 
career which he so much enjoyed. 

I conceive that in this respect he was a model 
whom I may safely hold up for the imitation of 
my readers, young or old. Such men do credit 
to the country, and if Garfield's rule of life could 
be universally adopted, the country would never 
be in peril. A conscientious man may make 
mistakes of judgment, but he can never go far 
astray. 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 

THE TRIBUTES OF FEIENDS. 

Before going farther, in order that my young 
readers may be better quahfied to understand 
what manner of man Garfield was, I will quote 
the remarks made by two of his friends, one a 
prominent member of the party opposed to him 
in polities. In the Milwaukee Sentinel of Sept. 
22d, I find this tribute by Congressman Williams, 
of that State : 

" Happening to sit within one seat of him for 
four years in the House, I, with others, perhaps 
had a better opportunity to see him in all of his 
moods than those more removed. In action he 
was a giant ; off duty he was a great, noble boy. 
He never knew what austerity of manner or cere- 
monious dignity meant. After some of his great- 
est efforts in the House, such as will Kve in his- 
tory, he would turn to me, or any one else, and 

say : ' Well, old boy, how was that ? ' Every 
(280) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 281 

man was his confidant and friend, so far as the inter- 
change of every-day good feeling was concerned. 

''' He once told me how he prepared his speeches ; 
that first he filled himself with the subject, mass- 
ing all the facts and principles involved, so far as 
he could ; then he took pen and paper and wrote 
down the salient points in what he regarded their 
logical order. Then he scanned them critically, 
and fixed them in his memory. 'And then,' said 
he, ' I leave the paper in my room and trust to 
the emergency.' He told me that when he spoke 
at the serenade in N^ew York a year ago, he was 
BO pressed by callers that the only opportunity he 
had for preparation was, to lock the door and walk 
three times around the table, when he was called 
out to the balcony to begin. All the world knows 
what that speech was. 

" He was wrapped up in his family. His two 
boys would come up to the House just before ad- 
journment, and loiter about his desk with their 
books in their hands. After the House adjourn- 
ed, other members would go off in cars or car- 
riages, or walk down the avenue in groups. But 
Garfield, with a boy on each side of him, would 
walk down Capitol Hill, as we would say in the 



282 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

conntiy ' cross-lots,' all three chatting together on 
equal terms. 

'' He said to me one day during the canvass, 
while the tears came to his eyes, ' I have done no 
more in coming up from poverty than hundreds 
and thousands of others, but I am thankful that I 
have been able to keep my family by my side, and 
educate my children.' 

" He was a man with whom anybody could dif- 
fer with impunity. I have said repeatedly, that 
were Garfield alive and fully recovered, and a 
dozen of his intimate friends were to go to him, 
and advise that Guiteau be let off, he would say, 
' Yes, let him go.' The man positively knew no 
malice. And for such a man to be shot and tor- 
tured like a dog, and by a dog ! 

" He was extremely sensitive. I have seen him 
come into the House in the morning, when some 
guerrilla of the press had stabbed him deeper in 
his feelings than Guiteau's bullet did in the body, 
and when he looked pallid from suffering, and the 
e ddent loss of sleep ; but he would utter no mur- 
mur, and in some short time his great exuber- 
ance of spirits would surmount it all, and he would 
be a boy agaiu. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 283 

" He never went to luncli witliont a troop of 
friends with him. He loved to talk at table, and 
there is no gnsh in saying he talked a God social- 
ly and intellectaally. Some of his ofF-hand ex- 
pressions were like a burst of inspiration. Like 
all truly great men, he did not seem to realize his 
greatness. And, as I have said, he would talk as 
cordially and confidentially with a child as with a 
monarch. And I only refer to his conversations 
with me because you ask me to, and because I 
think his off-hand conversations with any one re- 
veal his real traits best. 

^' Coming on the train from Washington, after 
his nomination, he said : * Only think of this ! I 
am yet a young man ; if elected and I serve my 
term I shall still be a voun^j^ man. Then what am 
I going to do 1 There seems to be no place in 
America for an ex-Fresident.' 

"And then came in what I thought the ex- 
treme simplicity and real nobility of the man. 
' Why,' said he, ' I had no thought of being nom 
inated. I had bought me some new books, and 
was getting ready for the Senate.' 

" I laughed at the idea of his buying books, like 
a boy going to college, and remembered that dui*- 



284 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

ing his Congressional career he had furnished ma- 
terials for a few books himself. And then, with 
that peculiar roll of the body and slap on the 
shoulder with the left hand, which all will recog- 
nize, he said : ' Why ! do you know that up to 1856 
I never saw a Congressional Glohe, nor knew 
what one was!' And he then explained how he 
stumbled npon one in the hands of an opponent 
in his first public an ti -slavery debate. 

"A friend remarked the other day that Garfield 
would get as enthusiastic in digging a six-foot 
ditch with his own hands, as when making a 
speech in Congress. Such was my observation. 
Going down the lane, he seemed to forget for the 
time that there was any Presidential canvass 
pending. He would refer, first to one thing, 
then another, with that off-hand originality which 
was his great characteristic. Suddenly picking up 
a smooth, round pebble, he said, ' Look at that ! 
Every stone here sings of the sea.' 

"Asking why he bought his farm, he said he 
had been reading about metals, how you could 
draw them to a certain point a million times and 
not impair their strength, but if you passed that 
point once, you could never get them back. ' So,' 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, 285 

said he, * I bought this farm to rest the muscles of 
mj mind ! ' Coming to two small wooden struct- 
ures in the field, he talked rapidly of how his 
neighbors guessed he would do in Congress, but 
would not make much of a hst at farming, and 
then called my attention to his corn and buck- 
wheat and other crops, and said that was a marsh, 
but he underdrained it with tile, and found spring- 
water flowing out of the bluff, and found he could 
get a five-foot fall, and with pumps of a given 
dimension, a water-dam could throw water back 
eighty rods to his house, and eighty feet above it. 
' But,' said he, in his jocularly, impressive man- 
ner, ' I did my surveying before I did my work.' " 

This is certainly a pleasant picture of a great 
man, who has not lost his simplicity of n:ianner, 
and who seems unconscious of his greatness — in 
whom the love of humanity is so strong that he 
reaches out a cordial hand to all of his kind, no 
matter how humble, and shows the warmest 
interest in all. i 

Senator Yoorhees, of Indiana, was among the 
speakers at the memorial meeting in Terre Haute, 
and in the course of his remarks, said : " I knew 
James A. Garfield well, and, except on the politi 



286 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

cal field, we had stronf^ sympathies topjether. It 
is nearlj eighteen years since we iirst met, and 
during that period I had the honor to sei-ve seven 
years in the House of Representatives with him. 

'' The kindness of his nature and his mental 
activity were his leading traits. In all his inter- 
cooi'se with men, women, and children, no kinder 
heart ever beat in human breast than that which 
struggled on till 10.30 o'clock Monday night, and 
then forever stood still. There was a light in 
his face, a chord in his voice, and a pressure in 
his hand, which were full of love for his fellow- 
beings. His manners were ardent and demonstra- 
tive with those to whom he was attached, and he 
filled the private circle with sunshine and mag- 
netic currents. He had the joyous spirits of boy- 
hood and the robust intellectuality of manhood 
more perfectly combined than any other I ever 
knew. Such a character was necessarily almost 
irresistible with those who knew him personally, 
and it accounts for that undying hold which, 
under all circumstances, bound his immediate 
constituents to him as with hooks of steel. Such 
a nature, however, always has its dangers as well 
as its strength and its blessings. The kind heart 



JAMES A. GABFIELD. 



287 



and the open hand never accompany a suspicions, 
distrustful mind. Designing men mark such a 
character for their own scltishness, and Gen. Gar- 
field's faults— for he had faults, as he was human 
— sprang more from this circumstance than from 
all others combined. He was prompt and eager 
to respond to the wishes of those he esteemed his 
friends, whether inside or outside of his own po- 
litical party. That he made some mistakes in his 
long, busy career is but repeating the history of 
every generous and obliging man who has lived 
and died in public life. They are not such, how- 
ever, as are recorded in heaven, nor will they 
mar or weaken the love of ids countrymen. 

"The poor, laboring boy, the self-made man, 
the hopeful, buoyant soul in the face of all diffi- 
culties and odds, constitute an example for the 
American youth which will never he lost nor 
grow dim. 

" The estimate to be placed on the intellectual 
abilities of Gen. Garfield must be a very high 
one. JS'ature was bountiful to him, and his 
acquirements were extensive and solid. If I 
might make a comparison, I would say that, with 
the exception of Jefferson and John Quincy 



288 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

Adams, he was the most learned President in 
what is written in books in the whole range of 
A merican history. 

" The Christian character of Gen. Garfield can 
not, with propriety, be omitted in a glance, how- 
ever brief, at his remarkable career. Those who 
knew him best in the midst of his ambition and 
his worldly hopes will not fail now at his tomb to 
bear their testimony to his faith in God and his 
love for the teachings of the blessed E'azarene. 

" It seems but yesterday that I saw him last, 
and parted from him in all the glory of his physi- 
cal and mental manhood. His eye was full of 
light, his tread elastic and strong, and the world 
lay bright before him. He talked freely of public 
men and public affairs. His resentments were 
like sparks from the flint. He cherished them 
not for a moment. Speaking of one who, he 
thought, had wronged him, he said to me, that, 
sooner or later, he intended to pour coals of fire 
on his head by acts of kindness to some of his 
kindred. He did not live to do so, but the pur- 
pose of his heart has been placed to his credit in 
the book of eternal life." 

A correspondent of the ]S"ew York Tribune 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



289 



suggests that the following lines, from Pollok's 
" Course of Time," apply with remarkable fitness 
to his glorious career : 

''Illustrious, too, that morning stood the man 
Exalted by the people to the throne 
Of government, established on the base 
Of justice, liberty, and equal right ; 
Who, in his countenance sublime, expressed 
A nation's majesty, and yet was meek 
And humble ; and in royal palace gave 
Example to the meanest, of the fear 
Of God, and all integrity of life 
And manners ; who, august, yet lowly ; who 
Severe, yet gracious ; in his very heart 
Detesting all oppression, all intent 
Of private aggrandizement ; and the first 
In every public duty— held the scales 
Of justice, and as law, which reigned in him, 
Commanded, gave rewards ; or with the edge 
Vindictive smote— now light, now heavily, 
According to the stature of the crime. 
Conspicuous, like an oak of healthiest bough, 
Deep-rooted in his country's love, he stood." 

10 



CHAPTEE XXXTI. 

FROM CANAL-BOY TO PRESIDENT. 

James A. Garfield had been elected to tlie 
United States Senate, but he was never a member 
of that body. Before the tune came for him to 
take his seat he had been invested with a higher 
dignity. Xever before in our history has the 
same man been an actual member of the House 
of Representatives, a Senator-elect, and President- 
elect. 

On the Sth of June, 1880, the Republican Con- 
vention at Ohicaoro selected Garfield as their 
standard-bearer on the thirty-sixth ballot. 'No 
one, probably, was more surprised or bewildered 
than Garfield himself, who was a member of the 
Convention, when State after State declared in 
his favor. In his loyalty to John Sherman, of his 
own State, wdiom he had set in nomination in an 
eloquent speech, lie tried to avert the result, but 

in vain. He was known by the friends of other 
(290) 



JAMES A. GAB FIELD. 



291 



candidates to be thoi-onglilv equipped for the 
highest office in the people's gift, and he was the 
second choice of the majority. 

Maiy Clemmer, the brilKant Washington corre- 
spondent, writes of the scene thus : " For days 
before, many tiiat would not confess it felt that 
he was the coming man, because of the acclaim 
of the people whenever Garfield appeared. The 
culminating moment came. Other names seemed 
to sail out of sight like thistledown on the wind, 
till one (how glowing and living it was) was 
caught by the galleries, and shout on shout arose 
with the accumulative force of ascending breakers, 
till the vast amphitheater was deluged with sound- 
ing and resounding acclaim, such as a man couli 
hope would envelope and uplift his name but once 
in a life-time. And he ? There he stood, strong, 
Saxon, fair, debonair, yet white as new snow, and 
trembling like an aspen. It seemed too much, 
this sudden storm of applause and enthusiasm for 
him, the new idol, the coming President; yet 
who may say that through his exultant, yet trem- 
bhng heart, that moment shot the presaging pan<>' 
of distant, yet sure-coming woe ? " 

Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, who was the 



292 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

President of the Convention, in a speecli made 
not long afterward, paid the following just tribute 
to Garfield's character and qualifications : 

" Think of the qualifications for the office which 
that man combines. Do jou want a statesman in 
the broadest sense ? Do you demand a successful 
soldier? Do you want a man of more experience 
in civil affairs? E'o President of the United 
States since John Quincy Adams has begun to 
bring to the Presidential ofiice, when he entered, 
anything like the experience in statesmanship of 
Gen. Garfield. As you look over the hst, Grant, 
Jackson, and Taylor have brouglit to the position 
great fame as soldiers, but who since John Quincy 
Adams has had such a civil career to look back 
upon as Gen. Garfield? Since 1864 I can not 
think of one important question debated in Con- 
gress or discussed before the great tribunal of 
the American people in which you can not 
find the issue stated more clearly and better than 
by any one else in the speeches in the House of 
Representatives or on the hustings of Gen. Gar- 
field — firm and resolute, constant in his adherence 
to wliat he thinks is right, regardless of popular 
delusions or the fear that he will become less pop- 
ular, or be disappointed in his ambitions. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 293 

^' Just remember when Republicans and 
Democrats alike of Ohio fairly went crazy over 
the financial heresy, this man stood as with his 
feet on a rock, demanding honesty m govern 
ment. About six years ago I sat by the side of 
an Ohio Representative, who had an elaborately 
prepared table, showing how the West was being 
cheated ; that Ohio had not as many bank bills 
to the square mile as the East, and that the South- 
west was even worse off than Ohio. 

''In regard to the great questions of hnman 
rights he has stood inflexible. The successor of 
Joshua R. Giddings, he is the man on whom his 
mantle may be said to have descended. Still he 
is no blind partisaa. The best arguments in favor 
of civil service reform are found in the speeches 
of Gen. Gariield. He is liberal and generous in 
the treatment of the South, one of the foremost 
advocates of educational institutions in the South 
at the national expense. Do you wish for that 
highest type — the volunteer citiz jn soldier? Here 
is a man who enlisted at the beginning of tlie 
war; from a subordinate officer he became a 
major-general, trusted by those best of com- 
manders, Thomas and Rosecranz, always in the 



294 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

thickest of the fight, the commander of dangerous 
and always successful expeditions, and returning 
home crowned with the laurels of victory. Do 
you wish for an honored career, which in itself is 
a vindication of the system of the American Ke- 
public? Without the attributes of rank or 
wealth, he has risen from the humblest to the 
loftiest position." 

"When the nominee of the convention had leis- 
ure to reflect upon his new position, and then 
cast his eye back along his past life, beginning 
with his rustic home in the Ohio wilderness, and 
traced step by step his progress from canal-boy to 
Presidential candidate, it must have seemed to 
him almost a dream. It was indeed a wonderful 
illustration of what we claim for our Kepublican 
institutions, the absolute right of the poorest and 
humblest, provided he has the requisite talent and 
industry to aspire to the chief place and the su- 
preme power. " It was the most perfect instance 
of the resistless stiength of a man developed by 
all the best and purest impulses, forces, and influ- 
ences of American institutions into becoming their 
most thorough and ablest ejnbodiment in organic 
and personal activity, aspiration, and character." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 295 

Tlie response to the nomination tliroiighout 
the country was most hearty. It was felt that 
the poor Ohio canal-boy had fitted himself, after 
an arduous struggle with poverty, for the high 
post to which he was likely to be called. The 
W. Y. Tribune, whose first choice had been the 
brilliant son of Maine, James G. Blaine, welcomed 
the result of the convention thus: 

" From one end of the nation to the other, from 
distant Oregon to Texas, from Maine to Arizona, 
lightning has informed the country of the nomi- 
nation yesterday of James A. Garfield, as the Re- 
publican candidate for the Presidency. 

"^N'ever was a nomination made which has 
been received by friend and foe with such evi- 
dence of hearty respect, admiration, and confi- 
dence. The applause is universal. Even the 
Democratic House of Representatives suspended 
its business that it might congratulate the countiy 
upon the nomination of the distinguished leader 
of the Republicans. 

"James Abram Garfield is, in the popular 
mind, one of the foremost statesmen of the na- 
tion. He is comparatively a young man, but in 
his service he commands the confidence and ad- 



296 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

miration of his countrymen of all parties. His 
ability, his thorough study, and his long practical 
experience in political matters gives an assurance 
to the country that he will carry to the Presiden- 
tial office a mind superior, because of its natural 
qualifications and training, to any that has pre- 
ceded him for many years. He will be a Presi- 
dent worthy in every sense to fill the office in a 
way that the country will like to see it filled — 
with ability, learning, experience, and integrity. 
That Gen. Garfield will be elected we have no 
question. He is a candidate worthy of election, 
and will command not only every Republican 
vote in the country, but the support of tens of 
thousands of non-partisans who want to see a 
President combining intellectual ability with 
learning, experience, and ripe statesmanship." 

The prediction recorded above was fulfilled. 
On the second of November, 1880, James A. 
Garfield was elected President of the United 
States. 

Had this been a story of the imagination, such 
as I have often written, I should not have dared 
to crown it with such an ending. In view of my 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



297 



hero's humble beginnings, I should expect to have 
it severely criticised as utterly incredible, but re- 
ality is oftentimes stranger than romance, and 
this is notably illustrated in Garfield's wonderful 
career. 



I 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE I^EW ADMmiSTRATION. 

On the evening of March 3d, preceding the in- 
atiguration, the President-elect met twenty of his 
college classmates at supper at Wormley's Hotel, 
in Washington, and mutual congratulations were 
exchanged. He was the first President of the 
United States selected from among the graduates 
of Williams College, and all the alumni, bnt more 
especially the class of 1856, were full oi" pride and 
rejoicing. From none probably were congratula- 
tions more welcome to the new President than 
from his old academic associates. If I transcribe 
the speech which Gen. Garfield made upon that 
occasion it is because it throws a light npon his 
character and interprets tlie feelings with which 
he entered upon the high oflice to which his 
countrymen had called him : 

" Classmates : To me there is something ex- 
ceedingly pathetic in this reunion. In every eye 
(298) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. OQQ 

before me I see the light of friendship and love, 
and I am sure it is reflected back to each one of 
you from my inmost heart. For twenty-two 
years, witli the exception of the last few days, I 
have been in the public service. To-niglit I am 
a private citizen. To-morrow I shaU be called to 
assume new responsibilities, and on tlie day after, 
the broadside of the w^orld's wrath will strike. 
It will strike hard. I know it, and you will know 
it. Whatever may happen to me in the future, I 
shall feel that I can always fall back upon the 
shoulders and hearts of the class of '56 for their 
approval of that which is right, and for their 
charitable judgment wherein I may come short 
in the discharge of my public duties. You may 
write down in your books now the largest per- 
centage of blunders which you think I will be 
likely to make, and you will be sure to find in 
the end that I have made more than you have 
calculated — many more. 

" This honor comes to me unsought. I have 
never had the Presidential fever— not even for a 
day ; nor have I it to-night. I have no feeling 
of elation in view of the position I am called upon 
to fill. I would thank God were I to-day a free- 



300 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

lance in the House or the Senate. But it is not 
to be, and I will go forward to meet the re- 
sponsibilities and discharge the duties that aie 
before me with all the firmness and ability I can 
command. I hope jou will be able con- 
scientiously to approve my conduct ; and wdien I 
return to private life, I wish you to give me 
another class-meeting." 

This brief address exhibits the modesty with 
which Gen. Garfield viewed his own qualifications 
for the high office for which twenty years of pub- 
lic life had been gradually preparing him. While 
all are liable to mistakes, it is hardly to be sup- 
posed that a man so prepared, and inspired by a 
conscientious devotion to what he deemed to be 
right, would have made many serious blunders. 
During his brief administration he made, as the 
country knows, an admirable beginning in re- 
forming abuses and exacting the most rigid econ- 
omy in the public service. There w^as every 
probability of his being his own successor had his 
life been spared. 

The inaugural ceremonies were very imposing. 
Washington was thronged as it had never been 
before on any similar occasion. Private citizens, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. qqi 

civic bodies, and military companies were present 
from every part of tlie conntrj. Prominent 
among the eminent citizens present was the 
stately and imposing figure of Gen. Hancock, 
who had been the nominee of the opposing party, 
'and who, with admirable good feeling and. good 
taste, had accepted an invitation to be present at 
the inauguration of his successful rival. 

And there were otluers present whom we have 
met before. The wife and mother of the new 
President, with flushed cheeks and proud hearts, 
witnessed the ceremonies that made the one they 
loved the head of the State. To him they were 
more than all the rest. When he had taken the 
oath of office in the presence of the assembled 
tens of thousands, Garfield turned to his ao-ed 
mother and imprinted a kiss upon her cheek, 
and afterward upon that of his wife. It was a 
touch of nature that appealed to the hearts of all 
present. 

In the White House, one of the best rooms was 
resei'ved for his aged mother, for whom he cher- 
ished the same fond love and reverence as in his 
boyish days. It was a change, and a great one, 
from the humble log-cabin in which our story 



302 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

opens ; it was a change, too, from the backwoods 
boj, in his suit of homespun, to the statesman of 
noble and commanding figure, upon whom the 
eyes of the nation were turned. The boy who 
had guided the canal-boat was now at the helm of 
the national vessel, and there was no fear tliat he 
would run her aground. Even had storms come, 
we might safely trust in him who had steered the 
little steamboat up the Big ,Sandy River, in dark- 
ness and storm and floating obstructions, to the 
camp where his famished soldiers were waiting 
for supplies. For, as is the case with every great 
man, it was difficulty and danger that nerved Gar- 
field to heroic efforts, and no emergency found 
him lacking. 

His life must now be changed, and the change 
was not altogether agreeable. With his cordial 
off-hand manners, and Western freedom, he, no 
doubt, felt cramped and hampered by the re- 
quirements of his new position. 'V\nien he ex- 
pressed his preference for the position of a free- 
lance in the House or Senate, he was sincere. 
It was more in accordance with his private tastes. 
But a public man can not always choose the place 
or the manner in which he will serve his country. 



JAMES A. Q An FIELD. „«„ 

Often she sajs to him, '^ Go up higher!" when 
he is content with an humble place, and more 
frequently, perhaps, he has to be satisfied with 
an humble place when he considers himself htted 
for a higher. 

So far as he could, Gen. Garfield tried to pre- 
serve in the Executive Mansion the domestic life 
which he so highly prized. He had his children 
around him. He made wise arrangements for 
their continued education, for he felt that what- 
ever other legacy he might be able to leave them, 
this wouM be the most valuable. Still, as of old,' 
he could count on the assistance of his wife in 
fulfilling the duties, social and otherwise, required 
by his exalted position. 

Nor-was he less fortunate in his political family. 
He haa selected as his Premier a friend and po- 
litical associate of many years' standing, whose 
brilliant talent and widespread reputation brought 
strength to his administration. In accepting the 
tender of the post of Secretary of State, Mr. 
Blaine said: "In our new relation I shall give 
all that I am, and all that I can hope to be, freely 
and joyfully to your service. You need no pledge 
of mj loyalty in heart and in act. I should be 



304 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

false to myself did I not prove true both to the 
great trust you confide to me, and to your own 
personal and political fortunes in the present and 
in the future. Your administration must be made 
brilliantly successful, and strong in the confidence 
and pride of the people, not at all directing its 
energies for re-election, and yet compelling that 
result by the logic of ev^ents and by the imperious 
necessities of the situation. 

" I accept it as one of the happiest circumstan- 
ces connected with this affair, that in allying my 
political fortunes with yours — or rather, for the 
time merging mine in yours — my heart goes 
mth my head, and that I carry to you not only 
political support, but personal and devoted friend- 
ship. I can but regard it as somewhat remarkable 
that two men of the same age, entering Congress 
at the same time, hifluenced by the same aims, 
and cherishing the same ambitions, should never, 
for a single moment, in eighteen years of close 
intimacy, have bad a misunderstanding or a cool- 
ness, and that our friendship has steadily grown 
w^ith our growth, and strengthened with our 
strength. 

" It is this fact which has led me to the conclu- 



JAMES A. QARFIELD. OQr 

sion embodied in this letter ; for, however much, 
my dear Garfield, I might admire you as a states- 
man, I would not enter jour Cabinet if I did not 
believe in you as a man and love you as a friend." 
When it is remembered that Mr. Blaine before 
the meeting of the convention was looked upoL 
as the probable recipient of the honor that fell to 
Garfield, the generous warmth of this letter will 
be accounted most creditable to both of the two 
friends, whose strong friendship rivalry could not 
weaken or diminish. 

So the new Administration entered upon what 
promised to be a successful course. I can not 
help recording, as a singular circumstance, that 
the three highest officers were ex-teachers. Of 
Garfield's extended services as teacher, beginning 
with the charge of a district school in the wilder- 
ness, and ending with the presidency of a college, 
we already know. Eeference has also been made 
to the early experience of the Yice-President, 
Chester A. Arthur, in managing a country school. 
To this it may be added that Mr. Blaine, too, 
early in life, was a teacher in an academy, and, as 
may readily be supposed, a successful one. It is 
seldom in other countries that similar honors 



20 



3Qg JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

crown educational workers. It may be men- 
tioned, however, that Louis Philippe, afterward 
King of the French, while an exile in this coun- 
try, gave instruction in his native language. It 
is not, however, every ruler of boys that is quali- 
fied to become a ruler of men. Yet, in our own 
country, probably a majority of our public men 
have served in this capacity. 



CHAPTER ZXXIY. 

THE TEAGIO END. 

I SHOULD like to end mj story here, and fee 
that it was complete. I should like with my 
countrymen to be still looking forward with in- 
terest to the successful results of an administra- 
tion, guided by the experienced statesman whose 
career we have followed step by step from its 
humble beginnings. But it can not be. 

On the second of July, in the present year, a 
startling rumor was borne on the wings of the 
lightning to the remotest parts of the land : 

" President Garfield has been assassinated ! " 

The excitement was only paralleled by that 
which prevailed in 1865, when Abraham Lincoln 
was treacherously killed by an assassin. But in 
this later case the astonishment was greater, and 
all men asked, " What can it mean ? " 

We were in a state of profound peace. ]N^o 

wars nor rumors of war disturbed the humble 

(307) 



308 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

mind, and the blow was utterly unexpected and 
inexplicable. 

The explanation came soon enough. It was 
the work of a wretched political adventurer, who, 
inflated by an overweening estimate of his own 
abilities and importance, had made a preposter- 
ous claim to two high political offices — the post 
of Minister to Austria, and Consul to Paris — and 
receiving no encouragement in either du-ection, 
had deliberately made up his mind to "remove" 
the President, as he termed it, in the foolish hope 
that his chances of gaining office would be better 
under another administration. 

My youngest readers will remember the sad 
excitement of that eventful day. They will re- 
member, also, how the public hopes strengthened 
or weakened with the varying bulletins of each 
day during the protracted sickness of the nation's 
head. They will not need to be reminded how 
intense was the anxiety everywhere manifested, 
without regard to party or section, for the recov- 
ery of the suffering ruler. And they will surely 
remember the imposing demonstrations of sor- 
row when the end was announced. Some of the 
warmest expressions of grief came from the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 309 

South, who in this time of national calamity were 
at one with their brothers of the North. And 
when, on the 26th of September, the last funeral 
rites were celebrated, and the body of the dead 
President was consigned to its last resting-place 
in the beautiful Lake Yiew Cemetery, in sight of 
the pleasant lake on which his eyes rested as a 
boy, never before had there been such imposing 
demonstrations of grief in our cities and towns. 

These were not conhned to public buildings, 
and to the houses and warehouses of the rich, but 
the poorest families displayed their bit of crape. 
Outside of a miserable shanty in Brooklyn was 
displayed a cheap print of the President, framed 
in black, with these words written below, "We 
mourn our loss." Even as I write, the insignia of 
grief are still to be seen in the tenement-house 
districts on the East Side of New York, and there 
seems a reluctance to remove them. 

But not alone to our own country were con- 
fined the exhibitions of sympathy, and the anxious 
alternations of hoj^e and fear. There was scarcely 
a portion of the globe in w^hich the hearts of the 
peoj)le were not deeply stirred by the daily bulle- 
tins that came from the sick couch of the patient 



310 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

sufferer. Of the profound impression made in 
England I shall give a description, conti'ibnted to 
the JS'ew York Tribune bj its London corre- 
spondent, Mr. G. "W. Smallej, only premising 
that the sympathy and grief were universal : from 
the Queen, whose messages of tender, womanly 
sympathy will not soon be forgotten, to the hum- 
blest day-laborers in the country distncts. Never 
in England has such grief been exhibited at the 
sickness and death of a foreign ruler, and the re- 
membrance of it will draw yet closer together, for 
all time to come, the two great sections of the 
English-speaking tongue. Were it not a subject 
of such general interest, I should apologize for the 
space I propose to give to England's mourning : 

" It happened that some of the humbler classes 
were among the most eager to signify their feel- 
ings. The omnibus-drivers had each a knot of 
crape on his whip. Many of the cabmen had the 
same thing, and so had the draymen. In the city, 
properly so called, and along the water-side, it 
was the poorer shops and the smaller craft that most 
frequently exhibited tokens of public grief. Of 
the people one met in mourning the same thing 
was true. Between mourning put on for the day 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



311 



and that which was worn for private affliction it 
was not possible to distinguish. But in many 
cases it was plain enough that the black coat on 
the workingman's shoulders, or the bonnet or bit 
of crape which a shop-girl wore, was no part of 
their daily attire. They had done as much as 
they could to mark themselves as mourn ei*s for 
the President. It was not much, but it was 
enough. It had cost them some thought, a little 
pains, sometimes a little money, and they were 
people whose lives brought a burden to every 
hour, who had no superfluity of strength or 
means, and on whom even a slight effort imposed 
a distinct sacrifice. They are not of the class to 
whom the Queen's command for Court mourning 
was addressed. Few of that class are now in Lon- 
don. St, James' Street and Pall Mall, Belgravia 
and May Fair are depopulated. The compliance 
with the Queen's behest has been, I am sure, gen- 
eral and hearty, but evidences of it were to be 
Bought elsewhere than in London. 

" Of other demonstrations it can hardly be nec- 
essary to repeat or enlarge upon the description 
you have already had. The drawn blinds of the 
Mansion House and of Buckingham Palace, the 



312 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OP 

fldgb at half-mast in the Thames on ships of every 
nati^nah'tj, the Stock and Metal Exchanges closed, 
the royal standard at half-mast on the steeple of 
the royal church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields ; the 
darkened windows of great numbers of banking 
ho ises and other places of business in the city it- 
self — of all these you have heard. 

"At the West End, the shoj^s were not, as a 
rule, draped with black. Some of them had the 
Union Jack at half-mast; a few the Stars and 
Stripes in black with white and black hangings on 
the shop fronts. The greater number of shop- 
keepers testified to their association with the gen- 
eral feeling by shutters overhanging the tops of 
the windows, or by perpendicular slabs at intervals 
down the glass. Some had nothing ; but in Ee~ 
gent Street, Bond Street, St. James' Street, and 
Piccadilly, which are the fashionable business 
streets of the West End, those which had nothing 
were the excej)tion. The American Legation in 
Victoria Street, and the American Consulate in 
Old Broad Street, both of which were closed, 
VfdVQ in deep mourning. The American Dispatch 
Agency, occupying part of a conspicuous building 
in Trafalgar Square, had nothing to indicate its 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. gj^g 

connection with America or any share in the 
general sorrow. 

'^In many private houses — I should say the 
niaj'J ity in such streets as I passed through dur- 
ing the day — the blinds were down as they would 
have been for a death in the family. The same 
is true of some of the clubs, and some of the ho- 
tels. The Eeform Club, of which Garfield is 
said to have been an honorary member, had a 
draped American flag over the door. 

" To-day, as on every previous day since the 
President's death, the London papers print many 
columns of accounts, each account very brief, of 
what has been done and said in the so-called pro- 
vincial towns. One journal prefaces its copious 
record by the impressive statement that from 
nearly every town and village telegraphic mes- 
sages have been sent by its correspondents describ- 
ing the respect paid to General Garfield on the 
day of his funeral. These tributes are necessaiily 
in many places of a similar character, yet the va- 
riety (jf sources from which they proceed is wide 
enough to include almost every form of municipal, 
ecclesiastical, political, or individual activity. Ev- 
erywhere bells are tolled, churches tlu'own open 



g"!^^ BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

for service, flags drooping, business is interrupted, 
resolutions are passed. Liverpool, as is natural 
for the multiplicity and closeness of her relations 
with the United States, may perhaps be said to 
have taken the lead. She closed, either in whole 
or in part, her Cotton Market, her Produce Mar- 
kets, her Provision Market, her Stock Exchange. 
Her papers came out in mourning. The bells 
tolled all day long. 

" Few merchants, one reads, came to their places 
of business, and most of those who came were in 
black. The Mayor and members of the Corpo- 
ration, in their robes, attended a memorial service 
at St. Peter's, and the cathedral overflowed with 
its soiTowing congregation. Manchester, IS'ewcas- 
tle, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bradford, Edinburgh 
were not much behind Liverpool in demonstra^ 
tions, and not at all behind it in spirit. It is an 
evidence of the community of feeling between the 
two countries that so much of the action is offi- 
cial. What makes these official acts so striking, 
also, is the evident feeling at the bottom of this, 
that between England and America there is some 
kind of a relation which brings the loss of the Pres- 
ident into the same category with the loss of an 
English ruler. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3X5 

<*At Edinburgli it is the Lord Provost who or 
dei-s the bells to be tolled till two. At Glasgow 
the Town Council adjourns. At Stratford-on- 
Avon the Major orders the flag to be hoisted at 
half-mast over the Town Hall, and the blinds to 
be drawn, and invites the citizens to follow his 
example, which they do ; the bell at the Chapel 
of the Holy Cion tolling every minute while the 
funeral is solemnized at Cleveland. At Leeds 
the boll in the Town Hall is muffled and tolled, 
and the public meeting which the United States 
Consul, Mr. Dockery, addresses, is under the 
presidency of the acting Mayor. Mr. Dockery 
remarked that as compared with other great towns, 
so few were the American residents in Leeds, that 
the great exhibition of sympathy had utterly 
amazed him. The remark is natural, but Mr. 
Dockery need not have been amazed. The whole 
population of Leeds was American yesterday; 
and of all England. At Oxford the Town Coun- 
cil voted an address to Mrs. Garfield. At the 
Plymouth Guildhall the maces, the emblems of 
municipal authority, were covered with black. 
At Dubhn the Lord Mayor proposed, and the Al- 
dermen adopted, a resolution of sympathy. 



gj^g BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

" In all tlie cathedral towns the cathedral au- 
thorities prescribed services for the occasion. 1 
omit, because I have no room for them, scores of 
other accounts, not less signiiicant and not less af- 
fcL'ting. Thej are all in one tone and one spirit. 
Wherever in England, yesterday, two or three 
were gathered together, President Garfield's 
name was heard. Privately and publicly, sim- 
ply as between man and man, or formally with 
the decorous solemnity and stately observance 
befitting bodies which bear a relation to the Gov- 
ernment, a tribute of honest grief was offered to 
the President and his family, and of honest sym- 
pathy to his country, gteeple spoke to steeple, 
distant cities clasped hands. The State, the 
Church, the people of England were at one to- 
gether in their sorrow, and in their earnest wish 
to offer some sort of comfort to their mourning 
brothers beyond the sea. You heard in every 
mouth the old cry, ' Blood is thicker than water.' 
And the voice which is perhaps best entitled to 
ispeak for the whole nation added, ' Yes, though 
tlie water be a whole Atlantic Ocean.' " 

In addition to these impressive demonstrations, 
the Archbishop of Canterbury held a service and 
delivered an address in the church of St. Martin- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. o^n 

in-tlie-Fidds, on Monday. Mr. Lowell had been 
invited, of course, bj the churcli wardens, and a 
pew reserved for him, but when he reached the 
church with his partj half his pew was occupied. 
" The Archbishop, who wore deep crape over 
his Episcopal robes, avoided calling his discourse 
a sermon, and avoided, likewise, through the 
larger portion of it, the purely professional tone 
common in the pulpit on such occasions. During 
a great part of his excellent address he spoke, as 
anybody else might have done, of the manly side 
of the President's character. He gave, more- 
over, his own view of the reason why all England 
has been so strangely moved. ' During the long 
period of the President's suifering,' said the 
Archbishop, 'we had time to think what manner 
of man this was over whom so great a nation was 
mom-ning day by day. We learned what a 
noble history his was, and we were taught to 
trace a career such as England before' knew 
nothing of.' 

"Among the innumerable testimonies to the 
purity and beauty of Garfield's character," says 
Mr. Smalley, ''this address of the Primate of 
the English Church surely is one wliicli all Amer- 
icans may acknowledge with grateful pride." 



CHAPTEE XXXY. 

ME. DEPEW'S ESTDIATE OF GAEFIELD. 

Mr task is drawing near a close. I have, in 
different parts of this vohime, expressed my own 
estimate of our lamented President. I^o char- 
acter in our history, as it seems to me, furnishes 
a brighter or more inspiring example to boys and 
young men. It is for this reason that I have been 
induced to write the story of his life especially 
for American boys, conceiving that in no way can 
I do them a gi^eater service. 

But I am glad, in confirmation of my own 
estimate, to quote at length the eloquent words 
of Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, in his address 
before the Grand Army of the Eepublic. He 
says of Gai-field : 

" In America and Europe he is recognized as 
an illustrious example of the results of free insti- 
tutions. His career shows what can be accom- 
plished where all avenues are open and exertion 
(318) 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3^9 

is iintrammeled. Our annals afford no sucli in- 
centive to youth as does his life, and it will be- 
come one of the republic's household stories. No 
boy in poverty almost hopeless, thirsting for 
knowledge, meets an obstacle which Garfield did 
not experience and overcome. No youth despair- 
ing in darkness feels a gloom which he did not 
dispel. No young man filled with honorable 
ambition can encounter a difficulty which he did 
not meet and surmount. For centuries to come 
great men will trace their rise from humble 
origins to the inspirations of that lad who learned 
to read by the light of a pine-knot in a log-cabin ; 
who, ragged and barefooted, trudged along the 
tow-path of the canal, and without money or 
affluent relations, without friends or assistance, by 
faith in himself and in God, became the most 
scholarly and best equipped statesman of his 
time, one of the foremost soldiers of his country, 
the best debater in the strongest of dehberative 
bodies, the leader of his party, and the Chief 
Magistrate of fifty millions of people before he 
was fifty years of age. 

"We are not here to question the ways of 
Providence. Our prayers were not answered as 



320 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

we desired, though the volume and fervor of our 
importunity seemed resistless; but already, be- 
hind the partially lifted veil, we see the fruits of 
the sacrifice. Old wounds are healed and fierce 
feuds forgotten. Vengeance and passion which 
have survived the best statesmanship of twenty 
years are dispelled by a common sorrow. Love 
follows sympathy. Over this open grave the 
cypress and willow are indissolubly united, and 
in it are buried all sectional differences and 
hatreds. The l^orth and the South rise from 
bended knees to embrace in the brotherhood of a 
common people and reunited country. JSTot this 
alone, but the humanity of the civilized world 
has been quickened and elevated, and the 
English-speaking people are nearer to-day in 
peace and unity than ever before. There is no 
language in which petitions have not arisen for 
Garfield's life, and no clime where tears have not 
fallen for his death. The Queen of the proudest 
of nations, for the first time in our recollections, 
brushes aside the formalities of diplomacy, and, 
descending from the throne, speaks for her own 
and the hearts of all her people, in the cable, to 
the afilicted wife, which says : ' Myself and my 
children mourn with you.' 




JAMES A. GARFIELD. 321 

^'It was my privile^je to talk for hours with 
Gen. Garfield during his famous trip to the New 
York conference in the late canvass, and jet it 
was not conversation or discussion. He fastened 
upon me all the powers of inquisitiveness and 
acquisitiveness, and absorbed all I had learned in 
twenty years of the politics of this State. Under 
this restless and resistless craving for information, 
he drew upon all the resources of the libraries, 
gathered all the contents of the newspapers, and 
sought and sounded the opinions of all around 
him, and in his broad, clear mind the vast mass 
was so assimilated and tested that when he spoke 
or acted, it was accepted as true and wise. And yet 
it was by the gush and warmth of old college- 
cbum ways, and not by the arts of the inquisitor, 
that when he had gained he never lost a friend. 
His strength was in ascertaining and expressing 
the average sense of his audience. I saw him 
at the Chicago Convention, and whenever that 
popular assemblage seemed drifting into hopeless 
confusion, his tall form conmianded attention, and 
his clear voice and clear utterances instantly gave 
the accepted solution. 

" I an-ived at his house at Mentor in the early 



322 BOYHOOD AND MANIIOOB OF 

morning following the dis:ister in M.iine. While 
all about him were in panic, he saw only a dam- 
age which must and could be repaired. ' It is no 
use bemoaning the past,' he said ; ' the past has no 
uses except for its lessons.' Business disposed of, 
he threw aside all restraint, and for hours his 
speculations and theories upon philosophy, gov- 
ernment, education, eloquence ; his criticism of 
books, his reminiscences of men and events, 
made that one of the white-letter days of my life. 
At Chickamauga he won his major-general's com- 
mission. On the anniversary of the battle he 
died. I shall never forget his description of the 
tight — so modest, yet graphic. It is imprinted on 
my memory as the most glorious battle-picture 
words ever painted. He thought the greatest 
calamity which could befall a man was to lose 
ambition. I said to him, 'General, did you never 
in your earlier struggle have that feeling I have 
so often met with, when you would have com- 
jM'omised your future for a certainty, and if so, 
what?' 'Yes,' said he, 'I remember well when 
I would have been willing to exchange all the 
possibilities of my life for the certainty of a posi- 
tion as a successful teacher.' Though he died 



JAMES A. OAE FIELD. 323 

neither a school principal nor college professor, 
and they seem humble achievements compai-ed 
with what he did, his memory will instruct while 
time endures. 

" His lono^ and dreadful sickness lifted the roof 
from his house and family circle, and his relations 
as son, husband, and father stood revealed in the 
broadest simlight of publicity. The picture en- 
deared him wherever is understood the full sig- 
nihcance of that matchless word ' Home.' When 
he stood by the capitol just pronounced the Presi- 
dent of the greatest and most powerful of repub- 
lics, the exultation of the hour found its expres- 
sion in a kiss upon the lips of his mother. For 
weeks, in distant Ohio, she sat by the gate watch- 
ing for the huri-ying feet of the messenger bear- 
ing the telegrams of hope or despair. His last 
conscious act was to write a letter of cheer and 
encouragement to that mother, and when the blow 
fell she illustrated the spirit she had instilled in 
him. There were no rebellious murmu rings 
against the Divine dispensation, oidy in utter 
agony : * I have no wish to live longer ; I will 
join him soon ; the Lord's will be done.' When 
Dr. Bliss told him he had a bare chance of re- 



324 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

coTery, ' Then,' said he, ^ we will take that chance, 
doctor.' When asked if he suffered pain, he an- 
swered : 'If jou can imagine a trip-hammer 
crashing on your body, or cramps such as you 
have in the water a thousand times intensified, 
you can have some idea of what I suffer.' And 
yet, during those eighty-one days was heard 
neither groan nor complaint. Always brave and 
cheerful, he answered the fear of the surgeons 
with the remark : ' I have faced death before ; I 
am not afraid to meet him now.' And again, ' I 
have strength enough left to fight him yet ' — and 
he could whisper to the Secretary of the Treasury 
an inquiry about the success of the funding 
scheme, and ask the Postmaster- General how 
much public money he had saved. 

" As he lay in the cottage by the sea, looking 
out upon the ocean, whose broad expanse was in 
harmony with his own grand nature, and heard 
the beating of the waves upon the shore, and felt 
the pulsations of millions of hearts against his 
chamber door, there was no posing for history and 
no preparation of last words for dramatic effect. 
AVith simple naturalness he gave the military 
salute to the sentinel gazing at his window, and 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 325 

that soldier, retuniing it in tears, will probably 
carry its memory to his dying day and transmit 
it to his children. The voice of his faithful wife 
came from her devotions in another room, sing- 
ing, ' Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah.' ' Listen,' 
he cries, ' is not that glorious ? ' and in a few 
hours heaven's portals opened and upborne upon 
prayers as never before wafted spirit above he 
entered the presence of God. It is the allevia- 
tion of all sorrow, public or private, that close 
upon it press the duties of and to the living. 

" The tolling bells, the minute-guns upon land 
and sea, the muffled drums and funeral hymns till 
the air while our chief is borne to his last resting- 
place. The busy world is stilled for the hour 
when loving hands are preparing his grave. A 
stately shaft will rise, overlooking the lake and 
commemorating his deeds. But his fame will 
not live alone in marble or brass. His story will 
be treasured and kept warm in the heai-ts of mil- 
lions for generations to come, and boys hearing it 
from their mothers will be tired with nobler am- 
bitions. To his countrymen he will always be a 
typical American, soldier, and statesman. A year 
ago and not a thousand people of the old world 



oog JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Iiad ever lieard his name, and now there is scarcely 
a thousand who do not mourn his loss. The 
peasant loves him because from the same humble 
lot he became one of the mighty of earth, and 
sovereigns respect him because in his royal gifts 
and kingly nature God made him their equal." 



I 



CHAPTER XXXVl. 

THE LESSONS OF HIS LIFE. 

Probably the nearest and closest friend of 
Garfield, intellectually speaking, was his successor 
in the presidency of Hiram College, B. A. Hins- 
dale. If any one understood the dead President 
it was he. For many years they corresponded 
reo-ularly, exchanging views upon all topics that 
interested either. They would not always agree, 
but this necessarily followed from the mental inde- 
pendence of each. To Mr. Hinsdale we turn for 
a trustworthy analysis of the character and intel- 
lectual greatness of his friend, and this he gives 
us in an article published in the "N". Y. hide- 
pendent of Sept. 29, 1881 : 

" First of all, James A. Garfield had greatness 
of nature. "Were I limited to one sentence of de- 
scription, it would be: He was a great-natured 
man. He was a man of strong and massive body. 

A strong frame, broad shoulders, powerful vital 

(337) 



328 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

apparatus, and a massive head furnished the 
physical basis of his life. He was capable of an 
iuJeiinite amount of work, both physical and 
mental. His intellectual status was equally strong 
and massive. He excelled almost all men both in 
the patient accumulation of facts and in bold 
generalization. He had great power of logical 
analysis, and stood with the first in rhetorical ex- 
position. He had the best instincts and habits of 
the scholar. He loved to roam in every field of 
knowledge. He delighted in the creations of the 
imagination — poetry, fiction, and art. He loved 
the deep things of philosophy. He took a keen 
interest in scientific research. He gathered into 
his storehouse the facts of history and politics, 
and threw over the whole the life and power of 
his own originality. 

" The vast labors that he crowded into those 
thirty years — -labors rarely equaled in the history 
of men — are the fittest gauge of his physical and 
intellectual power. His moral character was on 
a scale equally large and generous. His feelings 
were delicate, his sympathies most responsive, his 
sense of justice keen. He was alive to delicate 
points of honor. No other man whom I have 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 329 

known "bad such heart. He had great faith in 
human nature and was wholly free from jealousy 
and suspicion. He was one of the most helpful 
and appreciative of men. His largeness of views 
and generosity of spirit were such that he seemed 
incapable of personal resentment. He was once 
exhorted to visit moral indignation upon some 
men who had wronged him deeply. Fully ap- 
preciating the baseness of their conduct, he said 
he would try, but added : ' I am afraid some one 
will have to help me.' 

" What is more. General Garfield was religious, 
both by nature and by habit. His mind was 
strons: in the religiious element. His near rela- 
lives received the Gospel as it was proclaimed 
fifty years ago by Thomas and Alexander Camp- 
bell. He made public profession of religion be- 
fore he reached his twentieth year and became a 
member of the same church, and such he re- 
mained until his death. Like all men of his 
thought and reading, he understood the hard 
questions that modern science and criticism have 
brought into the field of religion. Whether he 
ever wroui>;ht these out to his own full satisfac- 
tion I can not say. However that may be, his 



330 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

native piety, his early training, and liis sober con- 
victions held hira fast to the great truths of re- 
vealed religion. Withal, he was a man of great 
simplicity of character. No one could be more 
approachable. He drew men to him as the mag- 
net the iron tilings. This he did naturally and 
without conscious plan or effort. At times, when 
tlie burden of work was heavy and his strength 
overdrawn, intimate friends would urge him to 
withdraw himself somewhat from the crowds that 
flocked to him ; but almost always the advice was 
vain. His sympathy with the people was imme- 
diate and quick. He seemed almost intuitively 
to read the public thought and feeling. No mat- 
ter what was his station, he always remembered 
the rock from which he had himself been hewn. 
Naturally he inspired confidence in all men who 
came into contact with him. When a young man, 
and even a boy, he ranked in judgment and in 
counsel with those much his seniors. 

"It is nut remarkable, therefore, that he should 
have led a great career. He was alwaj^s with the 
foremost or in the lead, no matter what the work 
in hand. He was a good wood-chopper and a 
good canal hand; he was a good school janitor ; 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 33^ 

and, upon the whole, ranked all competitors, both 
in Hiram and in Williamstown, as a student. He 
was an excellent teacher. He was the youngest 
man in the Ohio Senate. When made brigadier- 
general, he was the youngest man of that rank 
in the army. When he entered it, he was the 
youngest man on the floor of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. His great ability and signal useful- 
ness as teacher, legislator, popular orator, and 
President must be passed with a single reference. 

" He retained his simplicity and purity of char- 
acter to the end. Neither place nor power cor- 
rupted his honest fiber. Advancement in public 
favor and position gave him pleasure, but brought 
him no feeling of elation. For many years Presi- 
dent Garfield and the writer exchanged letters at 
the opening of each new year. January 5th, last, 
he wrote : 

*' ' For myself, the year has been full of sur- 
prises, and has brought more sadness than joy. I 
am conscious of two things : firtt, that I have 
never had, and do not think I shall take, the Presi- 
dential fever. Second, that I am not elated with 
the election to that ofiice. On the contraiy, while 
appreciating the honor and the opportunities 



332 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 

which the place brings, I feel heavily the loss of 
liberty which accompanies it, and especially that 
it will in a great measure stop my growth.' 

" March 26, 1881, in the midst of the political 
tempest following his inauguration, he wrote : ' I 
throw you a hne across the storm, to let you know 
that I think, when I have a moment between 
breaths, of the dear old qniet and peace of Hiram 
and Mentor.' How he longed for ' the dear old 
quiet and peace of Hiram and Mentor' in the 
weary days following the assassin's shot all read- 
ers of the newspapers know already. 

" Such are some main lines in the character of 
this great-natured and richly-cultured man. The 
outline is but poor and meager. Well do I re- 
member the days following the Chicago Conven- 
tion, when the biographers flocked to Mentor. 
How hard they found it to compress within the 
limits both of their time and their pages the life, 
services, and character of their great subject. 
One of these discouraged historians one day wea- 
rily said : ' General, how much there is of you ! ' 

^' Space fails to speak of President Garfield's 
short administration. Fortunately, It is not neces- 
sary. Nor can I give the history of the assassi- 



JAMES A. OAEFIELD. 333 

nation or sketch the gallant fight for life. His 
courage and fortitude, faith and hope, patience 
and tenderness are a part of his country's history. 
Dying, as well as living, he maintained his great 
position with appropriate power and dignity. 
His wavina" his white hand to the inmates of the 
White House, the morning he was borne sick out 
of it, reminds one of dying Sidney's motioning 
the cup of water to the lips of the wounded sol- 
dier. No man's life was ever prayed for by so 
many people. The name of no living man has 
been upon so many lips. No sick-bed was ever 
the subject of so much tender solicitude. That 
one so strong in faculties, so rich in knowledge, 
GO ripe in experience, so noble in character, so 
needful to the nation, and so dear to his friends 
should be taken in a way so foul almost taxes 
faith in the Divine love and wisdom. Perhaps, 
however, in the noble lessons of those eighty 
days from July 2d to September 19th, and in the 
nu)ral unification of the country, history will find 
full compensation for our great loss. 

"Finally, the little white-haired mother and 
the constant wife mnst not be passed unnoticed. 
How the old mothsr praveJ and waited, and the 



334 JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 

brave wife wrought and hoped, will live forever, 
both in history and in legend. It is not impietj 
to say that wheresoever President Garfield's story 
shall be told in the whole world there shall also 
this, that these women have done, be told for a 
memorial of them." 



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GENERAL PREFACE 



The present series of volumes has been under- 
taken with the view of supplying the want of a 
class of books for children, of a vigorous, manly 
tone, combined with a plain and concise mode of 
narration. The writings of Charles Dickens have 
been selected as the basis of the scheme, on 
account of the well-known excellence of his por- 
trayal of children, and the interests connected 
with children — qualities which have given his 
volumes their strono:est hold on the hearts of 
parents. These delineations having thus received 
the approval of readers of mature age, it seemed 
a woi'thy effort to make the young also partici- 
pants in the enjoyment of these classic fictions, to 
introduce the children of real life to these beauti- 
ful children of the imagination. 

With this view, the career of Little JSTell and 
her Grandfather, Oliver, Little Paul, Florence 



Vi GENERAL PREFACE. 

Dombey, Smike, and the Child-Wife, have been 
detached from the hirge mass of matter with 
wliich thej were oi'igiiiallj comiected, and pre- 
sented, in the anthor's own hmgiiage, to a new 
dass of readers, to wliom the little volumes will 
we doubt not, be as attractive as the larger origi- 
nals have so long proved to the general public. 
We have brought down these famous stories from 
the library to the nursery — the parlor table to the 
child's hands — having a precedent for the pro- 
ceeding, if one be needed, in the somewhat simi- 
lar work, the Tales from Shakespeare, by one of 
the choicest of English anthers and most reveren- 
tial of scholars, Charles Lamb. 



Newton\ 
Mass 



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A. Treasury of Englisli VT'ords. 



THESAURUS 

OF 

English Words and Phrases, 

CLASSIFIED AND ARRANGED 

SO AS TO FACILITATE THE EXPRESSION OF IDEAS AND 
ASSIST IN LITERARY COMPOSITION. 

By peter mark ROGET, M.D., F.RS. 

Enlarged and Improved, partly from the Author s Noies» 
and with a full Index. 

By JOHN LEWIS ROGET. 



Cro-wrL Qt7-o- 2^ea,rl3r SOO IF^ag^es, 



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